A robe painted by Sitting Bull, the legendary leader of Hunkpapa Lakota, is on display at the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina until April of 2020.
The gallery hosted a ceremony to showcase the robe in a display called The Permanent Collection: Walking with Saskatchewan. At the event, Lakota artist and Knowledge Keeper Wayne Goodwill shared his stories regarding Sitting Bull’s art.
“The robe at the MacKenzie is the only robe known to be painted by Sitting Rock that is still in existence today,” explains John Hampton, the director of programs at MacKenzie Art Gallery.
The robe was painted sometime between 1877 and 1881 while Sitting Bull was seeking asylum in the territory now known as Saskatchewan. He was at war with the US government at that time and came north of the border after the Battle of Little Bighorn.
It will be the first time the garment will be back in Saskatchewan after 74 years.
“He (Sitting Bull) exchanged it with local Gus Hedderich and upon his and his wife’s death, it was donated to the State Historical Society of North Dakota (in 1945),” says Hampton. “This is its first time returning back to Canada for a display.”
It is believed that the man in the painting is a self-portrait of Sitting Bull wearing his strong heart bonnet sitting under a feathered sun. The image is flanked by two pipes and has images of birds and antelopes in the corners.
“It is very large,” explains Hampton. “It was created with a plains bison and it was painted with pigments that would have been made with natural matter from that time. It is now a bit faded. There are crease marks on it from where it was worn as a functional garment, as well as a piece of art.”
Sitting Bull created a second similar robe that was gifted to the pope through the Vatican, but has been reportedly lost.
“There is such a rich history with the tragedy and hope in Sitting Bull’s story,” says Hampton. “And how he was assassinated by the US government by fear of the Ghost Dance.”
Sitting Bull advocated the Ghost Dance, which was thought to resurrect ancestors, replenish the bison herd and rid the land of white people, allowing his people to live free off of the territory again.
“It was an emotional moment when we unrolled the robe and brought it here. We played some of the music of the Wovoka, of the Ghost Dance, continuing our cultures and traditions and how that resurrected the cultures of our ancestors.”
Kiskiskaciwan (or kisiskatchewani sipi) is the Cree word for Saskatchewan. It describes a river that flows at a walking pace, which is the inspiration behind the display entitled Walking with Saskatchewan. It examines how Indigenous and non-Indigenous people represent and relate to the land as they walk it together.
(PHOTO: Sitting Bull’s robe. Photo courtesy of MacKenzie Art Gallery, Facebook.)