{"id":2989,"date":"2025-03-17T20:49:01","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T20:49:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/equity\/?page_id=2989"},"modified":"2026-06-04T19:10:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T19:10:32","slug":"indigenous-land-campus-mural","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/equity\/indigenous-land-campus-mural\/","title":{"rendered":"Indigenous Land Campus Mural"},"content":{"rendered":"
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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\u2014and educate about\u2014the Dakota land we’re on.<\/p>\n \t <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step into the space and learn more about the mural’s stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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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\u2014you’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\u2014they 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.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t \t\t\t \t\t\t<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

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.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indigenous Land Mural Learning Guide<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to navigate the mural and learning guide: <\/p>\n\n\n\n