For Our Only Home

For Our Only Home is an exhibition designed to accompany the construction of a Tibetan Buddhist Chenrezig sand mandala. This satellite exhibition is inspired by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama’s book, Our Only Home: A Climate Appeal to the World, which so eloquently calls for compassion as we face the climate crisis.  The artwork and words of the guest featured artist, Katsitsionni Fox (Bear Clan, Akwesasne Mohawk Nation) remind us to care for future generations by asking, from a traditional Haudenosaunee perspective, “What Are We Leaving for the Seventh Generation?”  The exhibition brings together artworks from many different indigenous cultures that reflect, like the Tibetan Buddhist vision, a shared wisdom and compassion to care for the Earth.

In Our Only Home, His Holiness writes, “Climate change is an issue that affects the whole of humanity. But if we have a genuine sense of universal responsibility as our central motivation, then our relations with the environment will be well-balanced, and so will our relations with our neighbors. Our Mother Earth is teaching us a lesson in universal responsibility. Therefore, each of us as individuals has a responsibility to ensure that the world will be safe for future generations, for our grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”

Over twenty years ago, Katsitsionni Fox wrote to remind us of the effects of our choices, “Our actions have a ripple effect, like a stone thrown into water. They affect our children, their children, and the ones yet to come. We in turn feel the effects of the actions of generations before us, whether they are positive or negative in nature.” We are continuing to see the results of our actions, now more urgently than ever. 

Time is passing.  

Over ten years ago, His Holiness wrote, “Just as ripples spread out when a single pebble is dropped into water, the actions of individuals can have far-reaching effects.” 

Time is passing.  

These overlapping Buddhist and Indigenous perspectives call for respect and care for all beings, kinship with them, gratitude, and reciprocity. They remind us that our attitude and actions matter and affect the present and the future. Thus, the exhibition is also a gentle call to action. 

Grains of sand form the exquisite and impermanent mandala for only a brief time. When they are poured into moving water as the final stage of the ritual, each grain of sand, however small, will create ripples. What ripples will our own actions make? 

Our elders tell us to think ahead of the seven generations when making decisions today. This philosophy is very profound. Our actions have a ripple effect, like a stone thrown into water. They affect our children, their children, and the ones yet to come. We in turn feel the effects of the actions of generations before us, whether they are positive or negative in nature.

We also feel the effects of the western world. We see the effects that “progress” makes, not only on the people, but also in all of the natural world. The water, land, air, and food that we need to live are becoming toxic, and so we too are becoming sick. Many Native territories face environmental hardships, Akwesasne notwithstanding. In the media, Native people are poorly represented, stereotyped, or most often non-existent. Native children in the public school system are given a one-sided view of history that leaves them in the past and fails to instill pride in who they are as the original inhabitants of this land. The contributions of Native Peoples to democracy, medicine, agriculture, environmentalism, and, more closely related to this exhibition, philosophies such as thinking ahead 7 generations, are things for Native children to be proud of.

In the work created for this exhibition, I thought of myself in the continuum of the seven generations. In one lifetime, if we are lucky, we will experience seven generations. When we are young we will see our great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother. They will be called back one by one to the Skyworld, leaving a part of themselves behind in us. As we age, we will meet our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. We need to think of them in our every action.

My actions are rooted in what has been passed on to me from my mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and the collective knowledge of my ancestors. I feel a connection to the Skyworld from which we came, and to the Mother Earth and all living things that continue to sustain us. I hope that my actions honor who I am, as an artist, educator, and as a mother. I hope that the stones that I throw today ripple out to the generations that follow me, to my children who are here, and to my grandchildren born and not yet born.