The Sioux Project—Tatanka Oyate fills a major gap in our understanding of contemporary Sioux aesthetics in North America with a specific focus on the knowledge and practices of Lakota/Nakota/Dakota (Sioux) communities in Saskatchewan, Canada. The exhibition offered a thoughtful reflection on contemporary Sioux relationships to the land through the projection of interconnected stories onto four canvas screens configured in a large circle. Edited from hours of digital video footage collected from a series of workshops that Claxton held with Sioux youth throughout Saskatchewan, the artwork delivers an array of visual stories, songs, and images that give insight into the aesthetics of the Buffalo People–Tatanka Oyate–in relation to intergenerational knowledge and the dispersal of Sioux peoples throughout the province. Like Sioux star blanket makers, Claxton seams together colourful fragments to link story and ceremony in her effort to create a constantly moving pattern of cultural and artistic ideas. The result is a glowing canvas circle of colour and sound that envelops the viewer and encourages a dynamic understanding of Sioux culture and art today.

— From the Mackenzie Art Gallery’s website