September 2, 2021

“Rise, Stand Up”: An Indigenous Artist’s Vibrant New Mural in South Dakota

Oglala artist Micheal Two Bulls' new mural in Rapid City, South Dakota, in a screenshot from Indian Country Today's televised interview with him by anchor Patty TalahongvaIndian Country Today

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Teeming with intensely colorful imagery and rich layers of Indigenous Oglala symbolism, the new mural by Micheal Two Bulls in Rapid City, South Dakota, is a gripping sight. His 40-by-25-foot mural was commissioned by the city’s Racing Magpie arts organization with CARES Act funding.

In an interview televised yesterday by Indian Country Today reporter Patty Talahongva, he spoke about the mural’s imagery of a spiraling set of DNA strands with interlocking alphabetic letters: “I added the DNA strands to remind Indigenous people that we are from the land, and that’s blood memory. That’s with us regardless of where we are.”

See the striking mural and hear his conversation here.

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

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