Indigenous Land Campus Mural
On Indigenous Peoples Day in 2025, the Macalester community gathered to dedicate the new campus mural “Creation,” as one piece of how the college honors the narratives and experiences of our Indigenous communities. It’s part of the ongoing work to think critically about how we care for鈥攁nd educate about鈥攖he Dakota land we’re on.
A working group led by Native and Indigenous staff and faculty partnered for the project with Minneapolis artist Natchez Beaulieu, Waabigwanikwe (Flower Woman), an Anishinaabekwe from the White Earth Nation, and co-designer Hapistinna Graci Horne, who was born and raised in Mnisota, whose Dakota and Lakota bands are Sisseton Wahpeton, Hunkpapa, and Wahpekute. Beaulieu’s vision for the acrylic mural began with a focus on the Four Directions and the Dakota land. Equally important to her was connecting with the Mac community to shape the project together, including through artist dialogue events and painting sessions.
Today, threads and themes from those conversations are visible on the twelve pillars between DeWitt Wallace Library and Old Main. “We asked: What do you want to see? What’s your most important imagery?” Beaulieu said, holding pages of notebook paper compiling themes and details. “That’s how we got these lists.”
Step into the space and learn more about the mural’s stories.
Begin under the Link between DeWitt Wallace Library and Old Main, in the spot where two perpendicular lines intersect at the center of a circle. Pause there, and you become part of the mural鈥攜ou’re the center, the seventh direction in Dakota and Ojibwe knowledge. (The four cardinal directions plus above and below represent the other six directions.) In Indigenous tradition, seven is a symbolic number, including in the understanding that we have the power to heal the present, seven generations forward, and seven generations back. Our actions make an impact on both directions鈥攖hey all tie together. “When I meet with my elders and I get our ancient knowledge or our wisdom, I’m like, ‘That makes so much sense. Please tell me more,'” Beaulieu says. “I just can’t get enough of it.”
Look around the pillars, and you’ll notice another important symbolic number: four. Each group of pillars represents four cardinal directions, four seasons, four stages of life, four quadrants of the medicine wheel, and four elements. As Beaulieu explains, “It’s a way to categorize what we hold sacred, but also a way to frame all the ways we ground ourselves and know our connection to the universe. It’s a compass.”
Indigenous Land Mural Learning Guide
The following sections of this page are designed to be a learning guide to help deepen our understanding of the art and symbolism on the mural, Dakota and Ojibwe history, knowledge, and their continued presence and care for people and the land.
How to navigate the mural and learning guide:
- Spend 5鈥8 minutes viewing the mural
- Review learning resources about Mni S贸ta Makoce
- Review learning resources for each pillar set
- Respond to the list of reflection questions
This learning guide is not intended to be completed in one sitting; instead, it is meant to be completed through additional time you set aside to engage with learning resources and reflection questions. For navigation purposes, we recommend viewing the entirety of this web page on a desktop. You can complete this learning guide individually; however, we recommend partnering with someone or creating a small learning cohort to share connections and conversation.
As you begin this learning guide, it is important to set your intentions to ground you in your learning process. Please use the following prompts to begin reflection and intention.
- Why is learning about Indigenous history, knowledge, their continued presence, and care for people and land important to you?
- Based on , reflect on your own learning of Indigenous people, communities, knowledge, and history. If you did not have an early awareness or understanding, why do you think that was?
- How has this socialization informed your understanding of Indigenous people, communities, history, and knowledge?
- Why is it important for you as a Macalester community member to engage in this learning and work?
- What are you hoping to gain from your learning? How will you use and apply what you will learn?
-
日韩精品 is located on the homeland of the Dakota people 鈥 Mni Sota Makoce [Mini SOta Ma-KOH-chay], which translates to Land Where the Waters Reflect the Clouds. Although they were forcibly exiled by aggressive and persistent settler colonialism, the Dakota people still flourish despite this painful history. We make this acknowledgment to honor the Dakota people, ancestors, and descendants, as well as the land itself. Macalester engages in ongoing work toward repair and partnership with the Dakota people and the land, as well as to support Indigenous members of our campus community.
Review: Macalester Land Statement and Acknowledgement听
- Review Macalester鈥檚 Land Statement and Acknowledgement along with the listed resources. While reviewing the list of resources, take note of any resources you were not familiar with and learn more about them.听
-
- Watch: by the Minnesota Humanities Center听
- Review: by the Minnesota Humanities Center
- Review: by Marlena Myles (Spirit Lake Dakota and Mohegan & Muscogee descent)听
- Read: by Teresa Peterson (Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota) and Walter LaBatte Jr. 鈥70 (Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota)
- Read: by Thomas D. Peacock (Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe)听
- Read/Watch: by Mallory Rose听
- Reflect: from Concordia University of Montreal, Quebec
Reflection Questions:
- When learning about the Indigenous history of Minnesota, what feelings arise for you? Why do you think the emotion(s) arose for you?听
- What have been the lasting impacts of settler-colonialism in Minnesota on Dakota and Ojibwe communities?听听
- How does learning about Dakota and Ojibwe history and their continued presence in your local area inform or change your understanding of Minnesota?听
- How does it change your understanding of 日韩精品 and the land campus resides on?听听
- How do you see the Medicine Wheel reflected in the Indigenous Land Mural, Creation?听
- From Dewemaagannag/My Relations Indigenous Engagement Guide, which of the guiding principles and values resonated with you?听
- Why did it resonate with you? How can you begin incorporating it into daily practice?听
- If any, were any of the guiding principles or values new or unfamiliar to you? How did this guiding principle or value bring a different perspective to you?听听
- What questions do you still have about Dakota and Ojibwe history and knowledge? How can you continue learning more?听
-
Using , search your address or a location you frequently visit and learn more about the Indigenous community in the area. Review the listed resources available and learn more about their history and continued presence.听
Reflection Questions:
- Before using Native Land Digital, did you know whose Indigenous land you reside on or frequently visit?听
- If you were not aware, why do you think that is?听
- If you were aware, how early did you learn about this Indigenous community?听
- While learning about the Indigenous history and continued presence of your home or places you frequently visit, what feelings arise for you? Why do you think the emotion(s) arose for you?听
- What Indigenous community or communities did you learn about?听
- How has their culture impacted the local area you live in or frequently visit?听
- How does learning about Indigenous history, communities, and their continued presence in your local area inform or change your understanding of land?
- Before using Native Land Digital, did you know whose Indigenous land you reside on or frequently visit?听
-
- Throughout this learning guide, what was something new you learned, and what new perspective(s) did you gain?
- How do your new learnings or perspectives impact your understanding of Indigenous people, communities, knowledge, and history?
- How does this impact what you previously learned and knew about Minnesota?
- How will you share your learnings or new perspectives with others?
- How does this learning change your perspective on the land Macalester resides on? The land you reside on?
- Based on what you have learned here, what specific questions or curiosities do you want to further learn about?
- Throughout this learning guide, what was something new you learned, and what new perspective(s) did you gain?
About the Mural
Additional Resources
-
-
Listed below are local Twin Cities community spaces to deepen learning with community leaders. This is not a complete list of all available opportunities. We encourage you to move beyond this learning guide and seek additional in-person and community-based learning opportunities on your own.
- 听(MN Humanities Center) 鈥 Learning from Place: Bdote is a full-day, immersive, place-based experience led by Dakota community members at sites of deep significance along the Bdote 鈥 where the 葹a葻谩wakpa (Mississippi River) and Mn铆sota Wakp谩 (Minnesota River) meet, and in the surrounding area that has long been home, a gathering place, and a source of life for Dakota people. Participants learn through story and reflection, engaging with both historical events and contemporary Dakota perspectives often left out of dominant narratives about Minnesota鈥檚 past.
- 听鈥 鈥淔ormerly known as Lower Phalen Creek Project, Wa岣砤茷 峁璸i Awanyankapi is a Native-led East Side environmental stewardship nonprofit. Founded in 1997 by community activists, our project area stretches from Lake Phalen to the Mississippi River and throughout the East Side River District. Our work is powered by a dedicated board, staff, and community of volunteers.鈥
- 听鈥 All My Relations Arts (AMRA) is a program of the Native American Community Development Institute (NACDI). As a gallery, AMRA is one of the few Midwest hubs for contemporary Native art and an integral place for advancing the careers of Native artists. AMRA is a national platform for the elevation of contemporary Native artists and provides continued support for artists and art professionals.
- 听鈥 Ho膵okata 峁猧鈥檚 (pronounced 鈥榟o-cho-ka-ta tee鈥 ) 3,805-square-foot public exhibit, Mdewakanton: Dwellers of the Spirit Lake, provides visitors with a cultural experience that enhances their knowledge and understanding of the Mdewakanton (pronounced 鈥榤ed-ah-wah-kah-ton鈥 ) Dakota people and their history.
- 听鈥 Makoce Ikikcupi, meaning Land Recovery, is a project of Reparative Justice on Dakota land in Minisota Makoce (Minnesota). The Makoce Ikikcupi project seeks to bring some of our relatives home, re-establish our spiritual and physical relationship with our homeland, and ensure the ongoing existence of our People.听 Our cultural survival depends on it.
- 听鈥 Dakota-led nonprofit creating a future where Dakota culture has a vital presence and Dakota values 鈥 such as mni wi膷贸ni, or water is life 鈥 are embedded into our communal existence. We are currently working to transform five acres of land at Ow谩mniyomni (St. Anthony Falls) into a place of restoration, education, healing and connection
- 鈥 Mashkiki Studios offers culturally rooted consulting that centers Indigenous knowledge, community wellness, and equity. We work across legal, educational, and organizational settings to create lasting, meaningful change. We use dialogue, reflection, and restorative practices to guide our work. Through surveys, community agreements, and accessibility tools, we support inclusive, relational processes that build trust and drive change in consulting, workshops, and other offerings.
- 听鈥 The Indigenous Food Lab is dedicated to revitalizing Indigenous food systems by making ancestral foods accessible to everyone. To achieve this, we nixtamalize corn cultivated in the foothills of Ute Mountain in New Mexico. This allows us to produce hominy, masa, and tortillas, which we sell wholesale to local restaurants and for special events. We also package and sell Indigenous products such as wild rice, heirloom corn, and beans online across the country.