Ocmulgee Indigenous Celebration, Fire Starters film festival lead packed weekend in Macon
The Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park has hosted its Ocmulgee Indigenous Celebration for 31 years and this year it’s on for Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.
In addition, this weekend there’s the inaugural Fire Starters Film Festival running through Saturday, the Ocmulgee to Okmulgee Art Exhibition on display through Nov. 18 and Saturday’s Ignite the Night Benefit Concert featuring the Indigo Girls.
The three Fire Starters events – film, art and music – are independent of the park’s Indigenous Celebration but they’re joined at the hip in teaching the culture and traditions of Southeastern Native Americans with a focus on the Muscogee (Creek) people who called the area home before they were forced to leave by us Euro-Americans.
But not just that.
More important, really, are the not-to-be-missed opportunities to hear the stories of and connect with descendants of those we now realize we’ve missed in Middle Georgia for far too long.
Ocmulgee Indigenous Celebration
Admission to the Ocmulgee Indigenous Celebration is free and so is parking, though parking isn’t available on park grounds. Instead, park just down the road at the old Macon-Bibb Health Department, 171 Emery Highway, and catch a shuttle to and fro.
At Ocmulgee Mounds, you’ll see Southeastern Indigenous art, crafts, singers, dancers, storytellers and more. There’ll be exhibits and booths representing Native organizations and experts and elders sharing cultural knowledge.
Art, crafts, clothes and other items will be for sale and there’ll be food, much of it Native American.
“We’re ready to celebrate,” said Lisa Lemon, Executive Director of the Ocmulgee Mounds Association which supports educational and other endeavors of the park including organizing the celebration.
“It’s fun, family-friendly and there are hands-on activities where kids can make little pottery and jewelry projects and do finger weaving and patchwork. There’ll be traditional musicians and dancers and Muscogee hymn singers sharing songs in their traditional language. That’s new this year.”
Muscogee (Creek) artist Johnnie Diacon will again be at the celebration creating a painting he’ll leave with the park. His work has graced the cover of former U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo’s book, “An American Sunrise,” been used in Hulu’s TV show ‘Reservation Dogs,” and will be featured at Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport in an exhibit called “This Land Calls Us Home.” He’s also giving talks at Emory University.
“I love creating art in our ancestral homeland,” Diacon said. “I appreciate my people being welcomed here. You have to realize when we come back we’re seeing the homeland we’ve heard about all our lives.”
More on the park and Indigenous Celebration is at www.nps.gov. Scroll and select the calendar/events section.
Fire Starters Indigenous Film Festival
The Fire Starters Indigenous Film Festival brings five films to Macon of modern Native American life. Most, but not all, are made by Muscogee (Creek) filmmakers.
“The films are entertaining and thought-provoking,” said Tracie Revis, Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve Initiative Director of Advocacy. ONPPI is the community-based group of Middle Georgia and Muscogee (Creek) citizens working to expand the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park and see it become a National Park and Preserve. Events are also part of Macon200, Macon’s bicentennial celebration.
“Having filmmakers, producers and actors here for Q&As helps give a good look at what contemporary life is like for Indigenous people. For those who can’t get to all the films, there’s a great Friday short-film block at noon featuring ‘The Journey of Tiak Hikiya Ohoyo’ about a Choctaw women’s stickball team and ‘Dead Bird Hearts,’ an Indigenous, post-apocalyptic love story between an incompetent man and his dog.”
Information on Fire Starters films and ticketing is at www.thegrandmacon.com/events.
Producer Dylan Brodie represents “Dead Bird Hearts” and “Fancy Dance.” Directed by Erica Tremblay, “Fancy Dance” shows Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at The Grand Opera House and explores issues of murdered and missing Indigenous women. It stars Lily Gladstone who also stars in Martin Scorsese’s new film, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” with Leonardo De Caprio. It’s out in late October.
A non-Native, Brodie frequently chooses to work with Native filmmakers and has served on projects such as “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Reservation Dogs” and Clint Eastwood’s “The Mule.”
“’Fancy Dance’ is sad but touching and was a true pleasure to make,” he said. “It’s an important topic presented with genuine heart – but there’s laughter, too. I’m grateful to bring the films to Macon and instantly felt I and the movies were really welcomed. That says something to me of the desire here to learn about the Muscogee people and their hardships while wanting a better future for everyone.”
Ocmulgee to Okmulgee Art Exhibition
Fire Starters began Thursday at the McEachern Art Center with a reception, artist talks and showing of the film “Bad Press.” Featured Ocmulgee to Okmulgee artists are Randy Kemp (Euchee/Muscogee/Choctaw) and Bobby C. Martin (Muscogee).
Their work will be exhibited through Nov. 18.
Kemp is a well-known multidisciplinary artist based in Arizona whose body of work includes painting, printmaking, mixed media and music. He creates works of both traditional tribal life and contemporary American Indian issues and was in Macon in March as part of Middle Georgia State University School of Arts and Letters’ Reclaiming the Native South Arts Festival.
“Seeing the land, especially the mounds, was very moving,” he said. “I had a moment to truly look at it all and consider what it meant. I closed my eyes and listened and, for a moment, it was like I was back in time. I had my phone and recorded birds singing and thought, ‘These are the same sort of birds my people listened to.’ I took that recording and put it in my song called “Tzo Ya Ha’ on my ‘Raven Speaks’ CD. It’s great to be back and get to know the history of Macon and how it coincides with our Muscogee (Creek) roots. It’s nice to be joining hands and walking this new path together. We’re not starting at the point where there were issues in our history but we’re here today with new connections in a new way enjoying each other’s acquaintance.
“I look forward to the exhibit but there’s the added layer of mission on top of it that involves what’s happening at the park and in the community and with so many Muscogee (Creek) getting to visit now. I’m excited to do what I can to help that grow.”
Martin is an artist, educator and facilitator working out of his Martin Mountain Studio near West Siloam Springs, Oklahoma. He bases much of his work on the multitude of family photographs left to him. These he re-images as monumental paintings, tiny etchings, drawings and video projects.
“Coming to Macon has been on my bucket list and now things kind of fell from above to get me here,” he said. “I’ve learned and experienced so many mind-blowing things like finding out our Muscogee (Creek) Nation’s flag is flying in front of city hall. I appreciate what everybody’s doing to make sure we feel welcomed and that our story is being told correctly.
“I’m not a crier, but as I was told what’s happening in the area and how we’re being embraced in our homeland, tears came to my eyes. It’s amazing. We’re not trying to relive history or rectify it or throw blame around – we’re reconnecting. That’s forward movement and that’s huge. There’s something compelling, emotional and powerful about that. Ocmulgee Mounds and Macon comprise a small part of what was our homelands but it’s the place you can point to as ground zero.”
Another aspect of Martin’s work involving family and heritage relates to his maternal great-grandfather – who didn’t speak English – being a circuit-riding Baptist preacher. His Indian Christianity was passed down and Martin practices it today. Along with two other Native American artists, Martin created a traveling exhibit called Altars of Reconciliation with a piece from it at the McEachern show.
“When you speak of Native Americans and Christianity there’s sometimes a tension,” he said. “But you have to separate the baggage of Christianity and what man has sometimes done in the name of God from what Christ did and taught. Why discard such a beautiful message because of what some did with it? There’s a great heritage and huge number of strong, Native Christian churches today. That, too, can be counted as a part of who we are.”
More on Kemp and Martin can be found at www.indigenousartmachine.com and www.bobbycmartin.com, respectively. The Macon exhibit’s site is at www.macmacon.com/ocmulgee-to-ocmulgee. McEachern hours are Thursday to Saturday from 4-8 p.m.
Ignite the Night Benefit Concert
Long involved in environmental issues and Indigenous rights, Georgia’s famed indie-folk duo, the Indigo Girls, come to The Grand Opera House Saturday for a concert benefiting the work of the Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve Initiative.
Also appearing is Jontavious Willis. Beginning in clubs around Atlanta, Grammy-winning Emily Saliers and Amy Ray have spent 35-plus years selling out concerts, recording 16 studio albums and selling more than 15 million records as one of the most successful folk acts in history. One of their signature songs, “Closer to Fine,” is gaining new life after being featured in the “Barbie” movie.
Tickets for the 8 p.m. concert can be bought through www.thegrandmacon.com under tickets and events, as can film festival tickets. Information and ticketing links are also at www.ocmulgeepark.org/events.
Contact writer Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com.
