MSP Terminal 1, B Tunnel Projection Gallery
October 1, 2024 - October 31, 2025

"Star Seeds: The Stories Our Ancestors Leave Behind" is not just an art installation but a transformative journey that will captivate and inspire you. Drawing from the traditional teachings of the Arapaho, Dakota, and Anishinabe cultures, it explores the intricate life cycles of plants, the profound ancestral knowledge of star wisdom, the enigmatic processes of life and death, and the intriguing concept of DNA memory.

Star Seeds is a series of four distinct videos depicting the changes each season brings - Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer. During each season, viewers explore the life cycle of a native plant, a celestial constellation, a natural element, and a land formation, all linked to sacred sites in Min Sota Makoce (Minnesota).

Missy's Star Seeds project seeks to transform our understanding of Indigenous culture, age-old tales, and ancestral celestial wisdom through a captivating, multi-sensory media experience. This innovative installation combines 2D video, 360-degree video, 3D animation, and healing sound frequencies harmonized with poetic storytelling.

About the Artist & Producer
Missy Whiteman (Northern Arapaho and Kickapoo) is an Emmy-nominated writer, director, producer, interdisciplinary publiX* artist, and curator. Missy Whiteman sees her work as a way to honor her ancestors and their stories. Her art is heavily influenced by her late father, Ernest Whiteman, who instilled in her a deep artistic vision and the practice of art as a form of ceremony. While rooted in Indigenous traditions, her work also delves into themes of historical trauma, cultural loss, and the impacts of colonization, seeking healing through the creative process. Whiteman aims to connect life, death, the spirit world, and the process of rebirth by activating spirit, DNA memory, language, and cultural revitalization.

Her innovative approach to storytelling and its positive effects on Indigenous communities have gained Missy recognition. Her films and projects not only showcase her artistic talent but also serve as powerful tools for cultural preservation and education. As a result, she has received numerous accolades and has had the opportunity to collaborate with influential organizations and institutions.

Missy's work has been shown to various audiences, including intertribal reservations, local urban venues like The Walker Art Center, nationally at the National Geographic All Roads Festival, and internationally in Bilbao, Spain. Whiteman is a past recipient of the McKnight Fellowship for Media Arts, Hennepin Theatre Trust/All My Relations Digital Public Arts fellowship, the 2020 Forecast Public Art Mid-Career fellowship, and is an alumna of The Sundance Native Lab Fellowship and Interdisciplinary Program, as well as the Jerome Fellowship.

Her previous project, The Coyote Way: X expanded Cinema, is a multidimensional cinematic experience that combines The Coyote Way: Going Back Home short film with live performances live score video mapping, and 360/VR technology. this project represents a significant evolution in her work, blending cutting-edge technology with timeless cultural narratives to create immersive and transformative experiences.

About the Artist & Co-Producer
Darren Cole is a Moving Image Sound Artist who is currently a third-year Ph.D. student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Computational Media. He is researching the future of work for artists in the age of consumer Artificial Intelligence. His personal practice involves mixing vinyl records and filming on his 16mm Bolex camera. He enjoys bringing his practice-based abstractions to the mainstream.

*The artist removes C in “public” and replaces it with an X , which concerns the historical and cultural significance of Indigenous land and treaty signings. Native American leaders often could not read or write English and could only sign names with the letter X. These x-marks indicate that land treaties were often met with protest and under unfair conditions because they were made with resistance.