By: Ty “Dancing Wolf” Ellis, Advisory Board Member
As someone who is strongly passionate about advocating for Youth voices, I like to provide the Indigenous Youth of our communities the opportunity to be together. For generations, having the support of one another is that we had. Our families have stayed a tight knit community through the period of Indigenous erasure; it is how we survived. So, it is important that we create a safe space for the youth to be themselves with one another.
This is the foundation of our annual Lenapehoking Youth Retreat; bringing the Indigenous Youth from communities throughout and surrounding Lenapehoking. And during these retreats, among the many things that we provide for our youth, we try to have them engage with nature, as they have the privilege of being on land that their family has been on since before the birth of ‘America’. Our families came from these lands that are now called New Jersey, and the surrounding states.
And so, the youth were encouraged to connect with the land, learn of conservation, and recycling pieces of what’s found during their exploration of the trails of the Cohanzick Nature Reserve for the creation of art.
What started as a simple portrait project quickly became a more expressive art, as each youth felt inspired by something else. They were tasked with walking the trails of the Reserve, and collect whatever it is that they found that spoke to them, and create a portrait of themselves on a small canvas.
As with all ‘good art’, the project did not quite turn out to be within the criteria that was set, as it became less of a portrait, and more of an abstract, where the youth did whatever it was that felt right to them. Ultimately, a project came together that ultimately included all of the talent of young creative minds; and got to be featured in the first Lenape Story Symposium earlier this year!
We often find that most times, it’s the youth that are teaching us; not the other way around.
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