by Jennifer Hilda Manitowabi
Mary Miller
Moccasin "Vamps"
My inspiration is the gardenias currently blooming here in eastern North Carolina. May the fragrance of flowers guide my sisters spirits home. by Mary Miller
Pam Martin
Moccasin "Vamps"
Dogwood Medicine (Cherokee), to help comfort those who have lost loved ones and ease the pain of sorrow. by Pam Martin
Sarah Miller
Moccasin "Vamps"
My mom, Francis Ravinsky gave me a pair of moccasins that were given to her at an Island Lake Gathering. They were probably made by someone in Garden Hill FN or St. Theresa Point FN. I wore them for several years. When they wore out I cut out the vamps. I'm glad to be able to give them to your project. I live in Toronto and I'm originally from Winnipeg, where my mom still lives by Sarah Miller
Rhonda Morrissette
Moccasin "Vamps"
Hope my humble contribution brings comfort to the families of murdered and missing native women - not forgotten. Made with wishes and prayers for a kinder, safer society. by Rhonda Morrissette
Bonita L. Bent Nelson
Moccasin "Vamps"
These are my contribution on their way. They are porcupine quill embroidery on braintan buckskin. I call them "Dragonfly Spirit Dance With Me." The large dragonflies have pink & blue double quill stitching on their bodies representing all the children left behind [or never born] when these women were taken. They are larger than life as they depict the spirit ascending to Creator leaving behind a white Spirit trail connected to the earth. The cattails are in important plant for many from the Great Lakes providing shelter and food. Perched on the cattails are tiny silver dragonflies, representing those who have already walked on waiting to greet their new sisters. I used blue cobalt beads to edge the sides and toes to represent the water and antique red Hudson's Bay white heart trade beads of all sizes and shades of red to show the many different women on this journey. I was always taught that the dragonflies are our family & friends who've gone on before us who come back to check up on us, especially when we dance. I oriented them towards the "wearer" because they are asking those spirits to come in and dance with us. When I first started making them I thought I was just making them for "someone else" but an old memory came back to me and made me realize these were also for my cousin who I lost. As a child, I thought abduction & murder only happened in the movies or in the big cities, certainly not in small town northern Indiana & definitely not in the beautiful woods of the U.P. of Michigan - a place I thought was Heaven...but I was wrong. My father's beautiful [...]