M. Earl Williams

The Round Dance signifies many things; the healing circle, the social gathering of community, a ceremony or festival, and even a form of grieving or celebrating through dance.

As a Native American who is white passing, I am made up of both colonizers and the colonized. A contradiction, figuring out belonging in this world, while maybe not even wanting it.

These images are a teleological investigation into reconnecting to “sacred” lands in the digital age, an era explicitly designed to keep Indigenous peoples out by its definition. Pushing back against this notion while also having its truth affirmed, the photographs present fluctuations between stages of grief. A result of the survivor’s guilt that I’m confronted with each time I see my reflection in a darkened viewing screen.

The work is a “ceremony” in the name of decolonization. It encapsulates both love and grief just like the traditional Round Dance. Only this time it’s happening in a broken world.

This project is dedicated to my Grandmother, who has taught me about myself and the world through our time together. The most telling knowledge she gave me was from stories she can’t tell because of how difficult they are to relive. Her strength and courage during the end of the boarding school era has not gone unappreciated by myself and my family who would literally not be here today if it wasn’t for her resilience.