New Mural At Museum Of The Rockies Celebrates Indigenous Culture

BOZEMAN, Mont. — A new mural celebrating Indigenous culture and celestial navigation has debuted at the Museum of the Rockies.  

The piece, titled "All My Relations in All Four Directions," was created by three Indigenous women from the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming: Talissa Abeyta, Colleen Friday and Adrienne Vetter.  

The artwork is displayed across six ceiling panels in the museum's lobby. It features a gradient sun, sunset, dusk and moon to represent a continuous day.  

One of the central themes of the mural is Indigenous celestial cartography.  

The North Star and Big Dipper appear four times throughout the piece, showing different seasons and the passage of time.  

Another significant symbol featured in the work is the morning star, which represents balance, orientation and connection with the world in Native American culture.  

Allison Long-Time-Sleeping-Reyos, the museum's curatorial assistant for Indigenous history, explained the inspiration behind the artwork.  

"One of the artists, Talissa Abeyta, she was inspired by how we're all globally connected, you know, when we're looking at the sky," Long-Time-Sleeping-Reyos said.  

Siriana Lundgren, curator of historical collections at the museum, spoke about what they hope visitors will take away from the mural.  

"And we're hoping that this mural will help people understand how much wonderful history we have here and all of the work that we're going to be doing in the future to help history come alive for this community," Lundgren said.  

The mural debuted as Women's History Month comes to a close at the end of March.  

If visitors would like to view the mural, they can visit the Museum of the Rockies lobby, which is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.