Raven Halfmoon

Empathy is our ability to put ourselves in another person’s place, seeing a situation from their point of view. According to Dr. Brene Brown, “The empathetic person will recognize the person’s struggle without minimizing it.” In contrast, sympathy moves us emotionally, but from a distance. The work of Raven Halfmoon and the story of the Caddo Nation move me to want to truly understand her struggle and that of her people, if that is even possible. That struggle has been minimized for so long and by so many, that we must want to know, to seek it out and recognize it, and to feel it, if we are to empathize.

In my work, I explore themes of ‘the