Kul Wicasa Oyate · Lower Brule Sioux Nation
Not Afraid
to Look
Monumental sculpture as prayer, as protest, as a permanent mark upon the land.
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Kul Wicasa Oyate · Lower Brule Sioux Nation
Monumental sculpture as prayer, as protest, as a permanent mark upon the land.
Art that speaks truth to power in places where it is needed. The work of Charles Rencountre stands at the intersection of Lakota tradition and contemporary activism — sculpture born of ceremony, carved in defiance, erected in prayer.
Selected Works
When we return to the spirit world, we are all the same color as the water.
— Shared during Inipi ceremony at Standing Rock
The Artist
A member of the Sicaŋġu people from the Lower Brule Reservation in South Dakota, Charles Rencountre is a sculptor whose monumental works stand as testaments to Indigenous resilience, water protection, and the enduring power of Lakota ceremony.
Graduated top of his class from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, his most celebrated work — the eight-foot reinforced concrete sculpture “Not Afraid to Look” — remains the only physical evidence of the ten-month gathering of Water Protectors at Standing Rock.
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