Featuring Harmony Apel, Sierra Revis, Tom Fields,
Victoria Tiger & Yatika Fields

The descendants of the Muscogee and Yuchi people were removed from the Southeastern United States in the 1830s by the United States government. The people walked over 700 miles into Indian Territory which is modern day Oklahoma.  When Muscogee and Yuchi people were forced to leave their homes, they took their tribal town ceremonial fires with them to Oklahoma.  When arriving in Oklahoma, each town placed their fires where they still reside and enjoy their ceremonial dances and songs. However, not all tribal town fires still burn. Today, there are 16 of the original 45 tribal town fires that exist. While some tribal towns brought their fires, other tribal towns built churches predominately of the Baptist or Methodist faith. They set up their “Indian churches” similar to the ceremonial grounds, where they sing their hymns in either Muscogee or Yuchi language. The ancestors of these people make up the modern Muscogee (Creek) Nation whose capital city is in Okmulgee, Oklahoma.

The Ocmulgee River in Macon, Georgia is home to a capital city or Mother Ground, where the mounds still sit. The exhibit is a reflection of these 5 Muscogee and Yuchi artists to express the homecoming from Oklahoma back to the ancestral lands in Georgia. From Okmulgee to Ocmulgee: Rekindling the Fires is an interpretive way that each artist expresses what it's like to be back in the homelands, where their ancestors lived before the colonization of the southeast.

Curated by Tracie Revis of the Muscogee Nation

Presented by NewTown Macon & Dashboard.

This project is funded in part by a grant from South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and Dashboard.

 Victoria Tiger

Hesci! 

Victoria Tiger Currently resides in Enid, Oklahoma but is originally from the Tulsa Area. Victoria is  Mvskoke Creek/Euchee and from Duck Creek Ceremonial ground, Concharty United Methodist Church, and N.A.C. She is bird clan.  

When Victoria creates she looks for the poetry in life. She looks for those emotive moments that return you to an experience, as if you are physically there again. Her art speaks to the many forms of intimacy, and how it impacts us. Victoria believes that  intimacy is what keeps us feeling alive. 

SOUND PIECE

As a special part of the exhibition, storytellers Tamara Wilson & Richard Whitman were invited to narrate a sound piece recounting a Yuchi blessing and the history behind the exhibition, written by curator Tracie Revis.

The sound piece is available on site, via a button guests can self-activate (see left), and can be listened to & read below.

[Tamara -Yuchi] We give thanks to the voices and the people that once spoke in these lands. We give thanks to those who honor this land today. We ask that all that pass through this sacred land have a heart of tolerance and patience. That they cherish and value what the earth provides. The food, the water, the sun. it brings joy and sorrow, but it mostly brings balance to us all. 

We ask that our relatives that are no longer on this land, feel welcome when they return. We ask that whatever healing is needed in this land, that is given and that we all receive health and blessing. We ask that all who pass will through and make their footprints on this earth, will always honor those who came before, and make it good for those who will come. [end Yuchi] 

[Richard] We are the descendants of those who came before on this land. While our people are no longer living here, our ancestors are buried here. We honor them. If you listen you can still hear them when you step on holy ground. There has to be a way for all of our history to exist and we continue to grow as human beings. When we return to these lands, we speak to our people and offer them tobacco. We offer to all those who have come and who will come to be blessed by our creator and appreciate the beauty of this sacred land.

Before Georgia was a state, it was home to indigenous peoples. There were civilizations that were made up of laws and law enforcement, commerce and trade, competitive game and sport, and morals and faith. These people built towns that have stood for thousands of years, and left legacies of where they lived. Today, the descendants of these empires still live. The language is still spoken and the fires of the people that once lived along the Ocmulgee River still burn. The Muscogee and Yuchi people lived in towns along the river and made up what we know today as the Lower Creek Confederacy. Tribal towns such as Coweta, Tuckabutchee, Broken Arrow, Cusseta, Yuchi, and Hitchiti all resided along the Ocmulgee Corridor. It was here that the people fished and hunted. They would wake each morning and face east and greet the sun. [a’gala saA… Go han thanA S@nlA] They sang songs as they did their chores and raised their children to be the next leaders. They danced with their neighboring towns and celebrated their harvests. They gathered plants to provide medicines to heal their community. They mourned as relatives would leave this world and go to the next one. [He to hA] As settlers came into the region, these towns began to trade with the people. However, the settlers and the new government wanted the land that was home to the Muscogee and Yuchi people. 

They began to force treaties to give up sections of land. It began on the Georgia coastline and didn’t end until the 1830s Indian Removal Act, which forced all of the Native peoples to walk to Indian Territory in Present Day Oklahoma. They would walk with their possessions, and they had little food. Some journeys were in the dead of winter and yet they marched. Relatives would pass away and they would be forced to bury them on the side of the road, leaving only a blanket to cover them. [He lA agana, He lA on fA nA] 

As they left their homes, where their ancestors are buried, they took with them the center of their towns, their ceremonial fires. These fires went to the new lands in Indian Territory and are the heart of every town or square ground. Today, all of the fires in the Creek Territory in the southeast were removed and only 16 fires exist in Oklahoma. They were sad to leave their homes, but they were thankful to have made it safely and to not walk anymore. They continue their dances and their language; because the creator gave this to their people and they must continue until the Creator says it’s time to stop. They carry on to honor those who came before.

The exhibit Rekindling the Fires, is a metaphor for descendants of the removed Muscogee and Yuchi people. The fires that were removed cannot be returned, as life only goes in one direction, east to west. However, healing sometimes involves visiting the past to learn and experience your past to understand the present. This understanding can make way for a bigger future. The exhibit was designed to offer an opportunity for Muscogee and Yuchi photographers who are from Oklahoma to come to Macon and experience their ancestral homelands, mostly for the first time. Because the fires were removed to Oklahoma, this is where the annual ceremonies exist. Each photographer was only told that it was up to them to capture the theme as they experienced it. Each photographer has 2 photos, one from Oklahoma and one from Georgia. 

This exhibit is an opportunity to help those that live in the Macon region an opportunity to learn about what happened to the people who were removed, and an opportunity for those individuals to come to the ancestral lands and take that back to Oklahoma. 

This exhibit is the beginning of a reconciliation for the Macon, Georgia community. It is the beginning of healing for some that were removed. 

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