We are on Dakota Land bus

We are on Dakota Land bus / Ramsey County Regional Park Signage

Vector Illustration, 2023

We Are on Dakota Land was originally designed as interpretive signage for Ramsey County Parks, created to acknowledge Dakota presence and knowledge within public landscapes. When Metro Transit invited me to wrap the design onto a city bus, the project naturally evolved into something even more aligned with Dakota ways of storytelling.

To Dakota people, storytelling has always been immersive and mobile. We painted our histories, teachings, and relationships onto teepees, allowing stories to wrap around the structures that sheltered our families and communities. Translating this practice onto a bus felt like a contemporary continuation of that tradition a moving vessel carrying stories through the city, visible to thousands of people in their everyday lives.

The imagery woven throughout the bus reflects Dakota relationships to land, movement, and community. Horses reference how our people once traveled across these homelands, while floral designs honor plants as medicine, teachers, and relatives. Tipis symbolize neighborhoods and collective living, reminding us that cities are not separate from Indigenous presence but are built upon it. Bold, layered colors speak to the vibrancy of many cultures living together today, acknowledging shared space while centering Dakota land as the foundation beneath us all.

This work is both a declaration and an invitation. It asserts an ongoing Dakota presence while encouraging viewers to reflect on where they are, whose land they are on, and how stories continue to move, adapt, and live within public space.