Hi, my name is Heather.
Hi, my name is Meryt.
Hi, my name is Juliana.
And we are Team Kwe!
We’re an all indigenous snow sculpting team here based out of the Twin Cities.
All three of our teammates, myself, Juliana, and Maggie Thompson, we’re all Anishinaabe from different tribes around Minnesota and Michigan.
As Team KWE, the word Kwe is Anishinaabe for women, and we are three women Anishinaabe team.
We’re doing a Shingebis, which is a Merganser that is doing the call of springtime, so it’s leading its head back and calling in the spring with fire in its belly and scaring back winter maker, Kabibona’kan, the winter.
Snow sculpting is an ephemeral art form, which means it only lasts for a short amount of time. So as long as there’s snow on the ground, as long as it’s cold enough, that’s how long the sculpture will be there.
One of the important things that I think is sacred to the piece, honestly, is that once we’re done, we give it a hug, we tell it thank you for being our snow sculpture, and we release it back into the world, which I think is honestly a really nice way to live with the world.
