The Flow of Life

Monika Wolf GHOST SHIRT N.2with feathers, pumpkin seeds, mother-of-pearl-shell pieces / 2014 / 35x16 (33) x10 cmMy works were inspired by the nineteenth century movement of the North American Indian Ghost Dance.Between 1880 and 1890, various tribes sent emissaries to a man, named Wovoka, who claimed to be a visionary, and whowas hailed as a Messiah by many desperate Indian Nations. Wovoka preached non-violence, and most tribes abandoned theirwar–like ways in preparation for future happiness. The ritual dance unified Indian people, even tribes with a tradition of conflict.The Ghost Dance is a ceremony for the regeneration of the earth and subsequently, the restoration of the earth’s caretakers totheir former life of bliss. North American Indian Ghost Shirts for the Ghost Dance were worn by men, women and children. Theaim was to enter into contact with the Great Spirit to converse with another world and with the ancestors. Every shirt wasdecorated with symbols which appeared in a vision. For the Oglala-Sioux the ghost shirt possessed the magic quality ofdefending them from the white man’s bullets. The great tragedy of Wounded Knee in December 1890 put end to the ghostdance as a widespread phenomen. Other spiritual movements saw survival in terms of a continuation of the intimaterelationship between people, nature and spirit that was the underlying essence of many Native Cultures, Shouldn’t this be anexemplary leading idea for all of us in our contemporary world?