TOKÁTA

Leola Owen

Summary
Final work

Dakota artist from Minnesota, I was raised by cowboys, warriors, and mystics motivated by culture. I use my art to honor my Native American heritage by blending traditional knowledge with contemporary vision. I will be continuing my education next year on BA Fashion Design: Menswear at Central Saint Martins.

Dakota artist from Minnesota, I was raised by cowboys, warriors, and mystics motivated by culture. I...

CollegeSchool of Pre-Degree Studies
CourseUAL Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
Graduation year2025

Everything we do in the present has an impact on the next seven generations in the future. How are you living up to the dreams of your ancestors? How will future generations know that you cared for them? These are the ideas of the seven generations principle which is the main ideology of Dakota society.

My final project is titled TOKÁTA. In Dakodiapi, the Dakota language, Tokáta translates to ‘Future’. I wanted to use my final major project to set the tone of my creative work by researching a wide array of futurism literature and media, most notably, from Indigenous and Black futurists. Rather than adopting a futurism rooted in colonialism, capitalism, or space exploration, Tokáta uses traditional silhouettes and materials of the past to reflect how the future will shape Native people and how Native people will shape the future. This work is symbolism for continuity, harsh reality, and cultural resilience. It reclaims the future as a space informed by ancestral knowledge and Indigenous values, honoring those who came before and questioning the reality for those still to come.