Buffalo Puppet Procession Traces Native History Through NYC’s Streets
“Return of the Buffalo: Tatanka Owe Akupi” pays homage to 38 Dakota men executed by President Abraham Lincoln in Mankato, Minnesota, in 1862.
A herd of 40 life-sized buffalo puppets migrated through Lower Manhattan today, September 18, plodding through Bowling Green, Federal Hall, the World Trade Center, Chinatown, and several other historical sites along their trail. On the second and final leg of its procession, Return of the Buffalo: Tatanka Owe Akupi (Lakota for "buffalo trail home") will also hit downtown Brooklyn tomorrow, September 19.
Theater writer and director Amir Nizar Zuabi created the project with descendants of the Lenape, the original Indigenous inhabitants of New York, and Lakota elders, whose deeply sacred relationship with the mammal dates back thousands of years.
“We just followed the elders’ lead in who they wanted involved, what they wanted to be said, really letting them shape the conceptual backbone of the work,” JJ Lind (Cherokee-Shawnee), the artistic director for the performance group Immediate Medium, told Hyperallergic.
“We’d bring community members in to provide feedback on the activities that happen along the route,” he added.
At nine historic sites throughout Manhattan, such as Broad Street Plaza and Zuccotti Park, concurrent performances from the Native dance troupes, gospel choirs, and Lenape youth created a lively backdrop. From the rampant slaughter of buffalo in the 19th century to the species' recovery led by Native activists and conservationists, the procession traces the buffalo’s complex history in the United States.
