For too many years there has stood planes of glass in quiet museum rooms that have separated us Rotinonshónni people from our Onekò:rha’ Kaión:ni, wampum belts. As a fledgling loomer and story-collector, I create both historic reproductions and contemporary wampum belts which are meant to be handled and investigated as living documents containing our most precious words, stories and experiences. I work with a variety of traditional and modern materials to recreate visual codes for the People - so that we may search within each of ourselves for some solutions to the many questions and challenges we face as a collective. I do this with the deepest respect and yearning to better understand what it means for us to live in Skén:nen (Peacefulness), Ka’nikonrí:io (Good-Mindedness) and Ka'shatsténhtshera (Strengthfulness). Tho niiorìhwake. 

-Rohsennase Dalton LaBarge (Akwesasne Kanienkehaka, Bear Clan)