DAKOTA HOMELAND FRAMES
Expanding the concept of interpretation for outdoor learning environments through underheard Indigenous stories.
Dakota County, Minnesota
12 miles
2021-2023
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The Minnesota and Mississippi River Greenways offer evocative settings for discovery and learning, immersing visitors in thriving riparian ecosystems. While this stretch of river has endured great changes, it has long been and still is Dakota homeland. Along the trail, visitors encounter ten ‘Ded Dakota Makoce: This is Dakota Homeland’ messaging features that provide insight into Dakota culture and how Dakota people interact with this environment. The messaging features present stories that have not been widely shared with non-Indigenous audiences, inspiring sensory interactions with the landscape and offering an invitation to learn from these places through new perspectives.
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The design team included landscape architects, a cost estimator, a Dakota writer, and an Indigenous advisory committee. With support from the client, the design team invited a Dakota-led advisory committee to guide the design of the messaging features and help select stories to share through a series of collaborative workshops. The design team, with the Indigenous advisory committee, engaged a small group of Dakota co-developers to lead the development of interpretive content, storytelling, editing, artwork, and Dakota language translation. Traditional Dakota stories and lessons were selected carefully and are appropriate for sharing with a larger audience.
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Visitors to the trails encounter ten messaging features nested in the landscape. At each feature, two arches built of steel and wood are situated facing one another forming implied circles, anchored by the ground below and open to the sky above. The arches frame views of the river or a specific native plant, and prompt sensory interactions with the landscape. Small log clusters located at each feature provide a playful invitation to climb or sit, sparking curiosity and offering reminders to slow down, look up, and engage with the landscape around you.
Messaging panels that spin within the arches share traditional Dakota stories in both English and Dakota, descriptions of the human, animal, and plant relatives within those stories, and short teaching lessons that explain Dakota values and concepts to visitors. Spinning panels also reveal illustrations of story characters created by Dakota artists. Native plants that include edible, medicinal, and culturally significant species that complement the stories being told embrace the nodes and are an important way of celebrating and carrying Dakota values forward.
PROJECT DETAILS
Location Dakota County, Minnesota
Client Dakota County
Team TEN x TEN, Cole Redhorse Taylor, Kachina Yeager, Clifford Canku, Carrie Schommer, Gabrielle Tateyuskanskan, Yvonne Wynde, Indigenous Advisory Group, Split Rock Studios, Urban Companies, Archetype
Area 12 miles
Status Completed in 2023
Photos Bria Fast Photography