{"id":91115,"date":"2025-04-07T09:08:18","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T13:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=91115"},"modified":"2025-04-07T09:08:18","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T13:08:18","slug":"lakota-artist-smudges-the-former-gold-mine-inside-the-black-hills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/07\/lakota-artist-smudges-the-former-gold-mine-inside-the-black-hills\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakota artist smudges the former gold mine inside the Black Hills"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Graham Lee Brewer When Lakota artist Marty Two Bulls Jr. looks at the Black Hills of South Dakota, he doesn\u2019t just see its natural beauty. He also sees a scar cut deep into the heart of the universe. The mountain range is central to the origin story of several tribal nations, including his, and it has become an international symbol of the ongoing struggle for Indigenous land rights and the destruction of sacred sites. To the Lakota, Mount Rushmore is the most visible scar on the mountains. The former gold mine beneath is another, and that&#8217;s what motivated Two Bulls to use his performance art to cleanse it. \u201cYou hear \u2018land back\u2019, and it means a lot of different things to different people,\u201d he said, referring to the Indigenous-led&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F04%2F07%2Flakota-artist-smudges-the-former-gold-mine-inside-the-black-hills%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Graham Lee Brewer When Lakota artist Marty Two Bulls Jr. looks at the Black Hills of South Dakota, he doesn\u2019t just see its natural beauty. He also sees a scar cut deep into the heart of the universe. The mountain range is central to the origin story of several tribal nations, including his, and it has become an international symbol of the ongoing struggle for Indigenous land rights and the destruction of sacred sites. To the Lakota, Mount Rushmore is the most visible scar on the mountains. The former gold mine beneath is another, and that&#8217;s what motivated Two Bulls to use his performance art to cleanse it. \u201cYou hear \u2018land back\u2019, and it means a lot of different things to different people,\u201d he said, referring to the Indigenous-led... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F04%2F07%2Flakota-artist-smudges-the-former-gold-mine-inside-the-black-hills%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lakota artist smudges the former gold mine inside the Black Hills - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/07\/lakota-artist-smudges-the-former-gold-mine-inside-the-black-hills\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lakota artist smudges the former gold mine inside the Black Hills - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Graham Lee Brewer When Lakota artist Marty Two Bulls Jr. looks at the Black Hills of South Dakota, he doesn\u2019t just see its natural beauty. He also sees a scar cut deep into the heart of the universe. The mountain range is central to the origin story of several tribal nations, including his, and it has become an international symbol of the ongoing struggle for Indigenous land rights and the destruction of sacred sites. To the Lakota, Mount Rushmore is the most visible scar on the mountains. The former gold mine beneath is another, and that&#8217;s what motivated Two Bulls to use his performance art to cleanse it. \u201cYou hear \u2018land back\u2019, and it means a lot of different things to different people,\u201d he said, referring to the Indigenous-led\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/07\/lakota-artist-smudges-the-former-gold-mine-inside-the-black-hills\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-07T13:08:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/07\\\/lakota-artist-smudges-the-former-gold-mine-inside-the-black-hills\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/07\\\/lakota-artist-smudges-the-former-gold-mine-inside-the-black-hills\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Lakota artist smudges the former gold mine inside the Black Hills\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-07T13:08:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/07\\\/lakota-artist-smudges-the-former-gold-mine-inside-the-black-hills\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":743,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/07\\\/lakota-artist-smudges-the-former-gold-mine-inside-the-black-hills\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/07\\\/lakota-artist-smudges-the-former-gold-mine-inside-the-black-hills\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/07\\\/lakota-artist-smudges-the-former-gold-mine-inside-the-black-hills\\\/\",\"name\":\"Lakota artist smudges the former gold mine inside the Black Hills - 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