Nįoxawanį Nąącge Waxopįnį (BRF Heart Spirits)

An Art Experience Legacy Project

In 2023 at the Black River Falls High School, 99* clay hearts were posted in a permanent exhibit to acknowledge and memorialize the 97 open and unresolved missing and murdered cases in Wisconsin, plus two additional cases within the Ho-Chunk Nation. There is a permanent exhibit of hearts in the Black River Falls, High School cafeteria and can be seen from the outer windows. Two of the board mounts have a Ho-Chunk applique skirt painting in the background, and one mount has a painted vest to represent the men. The display is dedicated to the known Ho-Chunk Nation tribal members who have gone missing or have been murdered.** Our project aims to shift our collective mindset by influencing emotions through the making of clay hearts—a real, physical reminder of the women and relatives whose families hearts have been broken.

Gone but certainly not forgotten are:

Jennifer Wesho, 9, murdered in 1989

Jacinda Muir, 30, murdered in 2015

Kozee Decorah, 22, murdered in 2022

Felicia Helgeson Wanna, 50, went missing 2022, found dead 2023

Gene Cloud, Jr., Age 20 when he went missing in 2012

Mitchell Link, Age 35, Walked on April 5, 2023

Alicia Miner, Age 48, passed July 27, 2019

Amelia Youngthunder Weber, 52, 1983

Renee Louis Wentz

Kyle Stout, Walked on 2018

Future hearts will represent other statistics and goals to raise awareness around issues of missing-and-murdered crimes. Most importantly, we hope the conversations will continue in the community. The artwork serves as a foundation for community building and critical discourse of social consciousness. All project elements have women’s issues, youth empowerment, color, texture, form (particularly the heart), and community interaction.

One of the strongest and effective prevention methods for abuse, violence, addiction, and trafficking, that we know are

  • building relationships with one another,
  • giving one another the sense of belonging, and
  • to let each person in our circles—this workshop to our individual lives outside of here—know that they matter, they are loveable, and they are loved.

*The additional two hearts were added because two people died between the time the statistic was issued and when our project occurred

**One of the challenges of the project’s limited timeframe was to inform the families of the dedication. In doing so, it seemed as though more names of missing or murdered Ho-Chunk people added to our original list of five names. It is anticipated that as word of the project and exhibit grows, so will the list of names that fit the Missing or Murdered Indigenous people criteria.

The primary goal of this project is to release the MMIWR names from the confines of an acronym. Their names should be freed from anonymity and released to the universe and human consciousness. The are women and girls, people of all ages: each with a history, family and a story. This project aims to shift our collective mindset by influencing emotions through the making of clay hearts—a real, physical reminder of the people whose families’ hearts have been broken.

We vow to raise awareness in our community about human trafficking and its impact on people, particularly Indigenous people, whose missing or murder rates are epidemic. Through art, we honor and dedicate our Nįoxawanį Nąącge Waxopįnį/ BRF Hearts Spirits Project to focusing on our youth who have the power to make changes that are real, compassionate, and long lasting.

Canadian artist, Cheryl Ring, started this project by gathering community and making 1200 clay hearts around Prince Albert, SK. She believes and our committee agrees that art is a vehicle for transformative change in the heart and mind. These notions link together through form, material history, and viewer interaction. The artwork serves as a foundation for community building and critical discourse of social consciousness. In Canadian estimates, the number 1200 defined by Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. “Today, I encourage focused positivity in the spirit of artistic creation so that good energy is captured in each piece.”

On choosing the heart as a symbol, the shape is also called “cardioid.” It is a shape that is culturally significant to society and universally recognizable. The shape is entrenched in peoples’ psyche as a significant expression of a shared understanding: a feeling without words. It is a metaphor and symbol to the center of emotion including affection and love. It is universally recognizable. Hearts remind us of who we love and why. It can have an identity on its own, becoming broken, happy, wise, grieving, and healing. A desire to connect is the driving force behind the collaborative aspect of this work.

Nationally, it is estimated by the USA Bureau of Indian Affairs, 4200 Native people are missing or have been murdered since 1980. There is no way to know for sure, but just because we cannot know for sure does not mean this issue does not matter. Everything from misidentification of victims or bodies to the way a crime is classified are all challenges in the conversation.

Proposed explanations for crimes against women and Indigenous/ Native American people (and the limited progress in identifying culprits) include poverty, drug abuse, widespread domestic violence, disconnection with traditional culture and disruption of the family unit through the foster care system and boarding school system. Poverty in particular leads to low rates of car ownership and mobility; thus, hitchhiking is often the only way for many to travel vast distances to see family or go to work, get supplies, school, or seek medical treatment.

Victim-blaming societal cues (aka sideline conversations, grapevine, jumping to conclusions, and gossip) have taken an issue and made it epidemic. Statements like, “Well, she had gotten in with a bad crowd and was couch-surfing…” “Oh, he’s been like that his whole life…” Or “They’re probably on a binge. They’ll show up eventually…” are used to destabilize evidence that authorities use to gather and investigate clues: when referencing a missing person, time is critical. For care providers, this should raise a flag when finding and caring for the person: look for unidentified and/ or untreated mental illness.

Another factor leading to abductions and murders is geography with criminally-preferred areas that are largely isolated and remote, with soft soil in many areas and carnivorous scavengers to carry away human remains; these factors precipitate violent attacks, as perpetrators feel a sense of impunity, privacy, and the ability to easily carry out their crimes and hide evidence. For the Black River Falls area, lush forests, lots of recreation trails for everything from ATVs to hiking are popular. Finding remote areas is easy for someone with criminal intent. We also have a traveler’s economy here since we are right along I-94, so taking our children is a concern. Further, and probably the most common: we have higher “poverty mindset” levels where people may prostitute themselves or their children to pay for living expenses like food or making rent.

As much as we can discuss the victims, the crimes and criminals need to be discussed as well. Is this possibly a familiar story? Man goes out for a few drinks after a long week of work. Maybe he’s on the road. He got paid and is looking forward to a good time. He finds someone who looks interested… Who is paying for the person, the person’s time, and/or sex act? Who has trouble controlling their anger?  Who is “on the road” and potentially lonely for levels of social interaction to intimacy? Who is not using positive, healthy coping skills to address the stress and possible trauma in their lives?

“This project is about women, but the scope goes beyond the female demographic. It is a general call to action, a subtle call to action. An invitation to view our world with softer eyes and kinder thoughts. As nuanced as it is a call to action is a gentle reminder to all women that we matter…What I know for sure is that missing and murdered Indigenous Women and Girls is not solely a First Nations issue, not just a women’s issue but a human one… and we all have to care about it.”

Cheryl Ring, Heart Spirits founder & BRF HS Guest Artist

Donations for the Nįoxawanį Nąącge Waxopįnį (BRF Heart Spirits) An Art Experience Legacy Project may be sent to Black River Falls District Office, c/o Nichole Sullivan, 301 North 4th Street, Black River Falls, Wisconsin, 54615.

Wisconsin population in 2020 was almost 6 million people. There are currently 97 open cases of reported missing or murdered people forced into trafficking.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/human-trafficking-statistics-by-state

Children who have runaway, as well as those who are homeless, face an increased risk of becoming victims of trafficking (Countryman-Roswurm & Bolin, 2014). http://cmfc.missingkids.org/home

On September 30, 2015, more than 4,600 children in foster care were classified as having run away from placement (HHS, ACF, Children’s Bureau, 2016). http://cmfc.missingkids.org/home

A study of youth in foster care who had run away found that youth typically run away because they want to be with family or friends or they dislike their placements, often due to wanting more freedom, trust, respect, and fewer rules (Pergamit & Ernst, 2011). http://cmfc.missingkids.org/home

A 2016 study by the Nation Institute of Justice (NIJ) found that more than four in five American Indian and Alaska Native women (84.3 percent) have experienced violence in their lifetime, including 56.1 percent who have experienced sexual violence. “Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Crisis: Violence Against Native Americans and Alaska Natives Far Exceeds National Averages” ROI: 3-9-2023 at https://www.bia.gov/service/mmu/missing-and-murdered-indigenous-people-crisis

According to the National Crime Information Center, in 2016, there were 5,712 reports of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls, though the US Department of Justice’s federal missing persons database, but the national information clearinghouse and resource center for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed person cases across the United States, called the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs- ojp.gov)  only logged 116 of those cases.

Reports indicate that there is no reliable count of how many Native women go missing or are killed each year. Researchers have found that women are often misclassified as Hispanic or Asian or other racial categories on missing-person forms and that thousands have been left off federal missing-persons lists. https://www.bia.gov/service/mmu/missing-and-murdered-indigenous-people-crisis