Local Indigenous women call for change through art

EAST LANSING, Mich. (WILX) – If you’re on Michigan State University’s campus in the next few weeks, you’ll probably see haunting red dresses blowing in the wind.

They’re meant to represent the thousands of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women in the United States. 

In 2016 (the most recent year we have data), the National Crime Information Center reported 5,712 missing native women for that year alone. 

The Native American Institute, the MSU Museum, and other community members spent a portion of Thursday morning hanging up red dresses one by one, remembering the indigenous women who are no longer with us.

Becky Roy, a Lansing resident, a tribal member, and a community activist, helped create an art installation to go alongside the REDress exhibit. She hopes her art will bring a physical representation of what indigenous women go through.

“Tarps hide bodies, duct tape silences, and zip ties restrain,” Roy said, describing the materials used for the art, “A lot of the women had visceral responses when making the dress. “

Filled with meaning, the women who worked on the dress are from separate tribes, all contributing something different.

They included a feather and a child’s handprint, symbolizing their hope for change.

“That is what fuels the fire. Why aren’t we worthy of a police search? Why are we not looked at as people?” asked Roy.

They hope the installations remind people that this is a current problem, not just a historical one.

“It’s powerful; it does exactly what the artist intended for it to do. You can’t help but look at these dresses and think of individual women,” said Teresa Goforth, the Director of Exhibitions at the MSU Museum.

Sharing present-day stories of what indigenous women are facing across the country, Roy says the MSU Powwow center was vandalized on Saturday, inspiring more native women to get involved with her project.

“This is the ugly side of it and the truth. We’ve got to deal with the crimes, and the treatment of indigenous women. How it’s ‘just another missing Indian,’ it’s ‘just another dead Indian.’ We’re done with that. We’re done,” said Roy.

Making people face the ugly truth with the hope of creating a brighter future.

The REDress project was started by artist Jaime Black-Morsette.

The installation can be seen near the MSU museum until March 17.

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