"You Eat Grass Dr. Mayo"
Acrylic painting on canvas by Julie Buffalohead, 2012. Purchased from the 2012 "Ded Unk'unpi - We Are Here" exhibit.
In her artist statement, she writes, "This narrative points to events transpiring during the Dakota uprising of 1862. The mass execution and resulting grave became a source for medical cadavers for doctors eager for subjects to dissect. A common practice in the period, William Mayo received the body of Cut Nose, whose skeleton he kept in his home for anatomy lessons for his sons. Along with these themes, the work also suggests a connection to an ill famed quotation linked with the precipitation of the hostilities. When confronted with tribal starvation, Andrew Myrick a Minnesota trader of goods was credited as remarking, 'So far as I'm concerned if they're hungry, let them eat grass.'"
