Celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day 2022 and the Onondaga Nation’s Land Returned to Them
Nearly three hundred attended this wonderful, collaborative celebration to mingle with Onondaga vendors and event sponsors and listen to speakers and Haudenosaunee singers at the Everson Museum of Art Plaza followed by four films which were well received! Social dancing helped the large group stay warm.
The celebration began with the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address. Speakers included Onondaga Turtle Clan Mother Freida Jacques, Oneida artist Olivia Bigtree (Turtle Clan), Black Artist Collective member Alice “Queen” Olom, Julio Urritia of the Syracuse Peace Council, and RIAC member Ionah Scully (Cree-Métis, Michel First Nation). Haudenosaunee singers provided music for participatory Haudenosaunee social dancing.
The REFOCUS FILM SERIES was co-sponsored with LIGHT WORK/ URBAN VIDEO PROJECT. This year, the series focused on traditional Haudenosaunee values in regard to land, with film titles including Onondaga Nation’s The Tully Mudboils, and Robin Kimmerer’s Gifts of the Land, a one-time showing of Gwendolyn Cates’ Dominion (a film based on her documentary entitled THE DOCTRINE), and Ryan Mackie’s drone footage of Onondaga land. Both Cates and Mackie’s films have been composed specifically for this event.
