frozen heart (2019)

Wool blanket, shearling coat, glass beads, spandex, sculpted clay teeth.

The “wendigo” is a cannibalistic evil spirit, associated with both starvation and greed in nehiyaw culture. A human’s body can be taken over by this evil spirit. The skin tight spandex mask symbolizes this takeover of the body by a dark controlling force, opening only into a mouth which is never satisfied, having already gnawed off its own lips, ever hungry. The heart of ice of the wihtikow is also gluttonous, here with its hoard of gems symbolizing possessive desires and wealth. Emerging out of the dead of harsh winter, wihtikow has needed to survive through desperation; dressed in a large blanket and an old and dirty skin coat. There are wounds in that skin; blood with red. To kill a wihtikow you must destroy its heart.