RedCan graffiti festival allows self-expression through art

The RedCan Festival took place over the second week in July

What started off as a one time event has now entered its ninth year.

The annual RedCan Graffiti Jam Invitational kicked off July 5, allowing local Lakota youth and featured artists to express themselves under the scorching summer sun through art murals around Eagle Butte.

RedCan is held by the Cheyenne River Youth Project (CRYP) team, which aims at providing youth with creative outlets and a space that they can call their own. This year, nearly 200 local youths came out to create art and gather as a community.

“I think we help to set the bar for a safe space, especially if you’re from the community,” Jerica Widow, citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and CRYP program director said. “We’re an extended family.”

The first two days of the festival are dedicated to featured artists and interns working on their murals. The next two days are filled with community celebrations and opportunities for youth to work on their own murals at the Art Park by the CRYP building.

The idea for RedCan came from Julie Garreau, citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and CRYP founder and executive director. Garreau had seen a video of a graffiti jam in Louisiana and got the idea for a youth and community-based graffiti jam, one that’s less competitive and more relationship building.

“I thought it would be a really interesting way to bring kids and get them engaged through graffiti,” Garreau said. “I know that’s controversial, but I also think being Lakota is controversial and just being Indigenous in South Dakota is controversial, so we’re not afraid of controversy.”

After its first year, RedCan took off, attracting worldwide visitors and Indigenous people from across the United States.

Christopher Big Eagle, 17, and Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota, had been interested in participating since he first moved to Eagle Butte four years ago. Big Eagle is now an intern with several other youth, assisting programs like RedCan and gaining useful career-building skills for the future.

“Over time it’s just really gotten better,” Big Eagle said.

The festival also brings back community members.

Tammy Granados, Itazipco Lakota, a citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, worked for CRYP for three years and now is returning as a featured artist. Granados’ mural featured stars, a UFO and her name as a contemporary call back to the Lakota creation story.

“As Lakota we believe we came from the stars,” Granados said.

For Granados, art is therapeutic; she said it helps to ground and center her. Granados and Kai’len Turning Heart, 17, and a citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, had also been working on a mural at the old bingo hall for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, but had to stop before it could be completed by the owner’s request.

Turning Heart, an intern, said she was still happy with what the two were able to accomplish. Turning Heart learned from Granados while they spent nearly two days working together.

“It was a beautiful experience,” Turning Heart said.

After nine years of RedCan, Eagle Butte is a vibrant community, with murals lining nearly every corner.

“We recently went on a trip to Washington, D.C. with our youth advisory, and one thing that I didn’t like was that there are no public murals,” Wakinyan Chief, Oglala Lakota and the CRYP arts director said. “Coming to Eagle Butte for the first time, it was really eye opening and inspiring and it made me feel like I wanted to be here.”

The creative expression at RedCan doesn’t stop at painting, the events Friday featured dancing, a DJ, coloring and more.

Lynn Running Wolf, a citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, has been bringing her kids to RedCan to dance for over five years. Running Wolf’s son, Aldon One Feather, has been a grass dancer since he could walk. One Feather said he likes dancing because it’s just fun.

Next year, for the tenth festival, Garreau said she plans on inviting back all of the former featured artists and creating a massive festival. 

This story is co-published by the Rapid City Journal and ICT, a news partnership that covers Indigenous communities in the South Dakota area.

Dateline:

EAGLE BUTTE, S.D.