I'm an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Nation.
I grew up on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
I have no formal art training and have been doing art full time since 1987.
All that I learned was thanks to the people that I have been near to.

I have done research in the Smithsonian on ledger art and the Suitland Annex Archive, also the Carlisle Indian School through the Cumberland Historical Society. It was at that time that I was sure that the work I do should reflect the time in which I live.

When I first did ledgers I drew a warrior on a horse because that's what I had seen on all the books that published that kind of art, but the reality of our time is we only see that in movies. Our lives are just as important as our ancestors. They had to endure the images that they drew and we should respect that they coved that part of history with their own eyes! Over romanticized images sell good, but does nothing to help the viewer to be educated on the plight on the indigenous people of America.

                                                              ~ Dwayne Wilcox