Ken Marchionno

300 Miles, Oomaka Tokatakiya

June 26 - September 3, 2015

In 2004, I was invited by members of the Lakota Tribes of South Dakota to photograph the Oomaka Totatakiya, Future Generations Ride. The Oomaka Totatakiya is an annual, nearly three hundred mile memorial horseback ride to the site of the Wounded Knee massacre. These images are an important document of a historical event, reenacting a journey that ended at the site of the final “battle” of the Indian Wars.

This work depicts ten years of that journey. The photographs focus as much on the ride, its landscape and hardship, as it does the individuals involved. Taken from both horseback and support vehicles, the images offer a unique perspective and an intimate view. Included in the essay are images of the ride, in both cross-country and urban settings, lunch and dinner breaks, sleeping arrangements, and the unguarded moments of everyday life on the trail.

The sense of accomplishment and camaraderie that is nurtured by the ride goes a long way toward healing the pain of living in lands occupied for generations. With poverty rates of over fifty percent and unemployment rates over seventy, these are consistently the very poorest communities in the U.S. This is a place that gives people little reason for hope and the ride is a fight against that.

In contrast to the dominant, disheartening imagery coming from the reservation, this work concentrates on the Lakota’s efforts toward self-empowerment. While the ride is in many ways in homage to those who lost their lives at Wounded Knee, this ride is also meant to foster leadership qualities in the youth. Along the way, the riders experience some of what their ancestors endured by embodying an intellectual, spiritual, and physical remembrance. Braving the cold—down to –20°F—these kids, some of them barely into puberty, ride as many as 35 miles in a day to complete the 300 miles.

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Ken Marchionno is an artist and educator living in Los Angeles. His photography, digital works, installations, and videos have been featured in exhibitions and festivals through North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. His work has been included in books on contemporary art such as Betty Brown’s Art and Mass Media, and in Robert Hirsch’s Exploring Color Photography. His photography has been featured in magazines in the US and Korea, including the contemporary art quarterly X-TRA. He has written criticism for Art Papers and Sajin Yaesul, and his creative writing has been included in literary journals such as Errant Bodies and Framework. Ken’s current work, 300 Miles, the Oomaka Tokatakiya, focuses on an annual memorial horseback ride with the Lakota Tribes of South Dakota. 300 Miles is an ongoing social practice work, with members from the tribe working alongside Marchionno. The Oomaka Tokatakiya runs from December 15th, starting at the site of Sitting Bull’s murder, and ending on the 29th at Wounded Knee—the location of the final “battle” of the Indian Wars. This modern tradition was started in 1986 and continues today in memory of Sitting Bull and those who lost their lives in the massacre at Wounded Knee. http://www.kenmarchionno.com/open/index.html