The Cheyenne have a long, rich and complex history. Sweet Medicine is a prominent figure in their mythology and culture. Some mystery still surrounds the story of Sweet Medicine but he is attributed with showing the Cheyenne a harmonious and respectful way in which to live. Cheyenne history is also punctuated by loss and tragedy. The massacre at Sappa Creek is but one incident in the grievous conflict caused by westward expansion of the American population and the near genocide that resulted. Significantly women and children were often the victims of assaults against the Cheyenne. Rather than prolongate the mourning Sweet Medicine is a celebration of the continuation of their society – an expression of power and pride. Andrew Hogarth

Sweet Medicine

For more than three decades from one of the earliest incidents in 1854, through to their victory at the Little Bighorn in 1876 and finally their defeat at Wounded Knee in 1890, the Lakota of the Great Plains resisted the intrusion of the white man into their lands and way of life. The twentieth century witnessed their desperate struggle to maintain their identity within a foreign culture. The healing of the wounds of their ancestors continues to be a long and painful journey but the Lakota have emerged victorious. There is hope for the future. Lakota Spirit is a tribute to the indomitable spirit of the Lakota Nation and to the memory of Oglala-Brule-Lakota Jack Little (1920 -1985), a straight talking man whose own story chronicles much of the turbulent history of the Lakota. Andrew Hogarth.


Lakota Spirit

Medicine Water was born in 1835 in Yellowstone Country. As a chief of the Bowstring Warrior Society he sought to preserve the traditions and lifestyle of the Cheyenne. Medicine Water recognised the unjust acts the United States government inflicted upon all Indian people. The taking of land, the depletion of hunting resources and the establishment of artificial boundaries. He knew that for the Cheyenne that this was done without their consent or in consultation. Throughout his life Medicine Water demanded respect as Chief of the Bowstring Warrior Society. He rode his mount refusing to acknowledge fences, markers or other confinements. He would travel the middle of the road, refusing to yield to oncoming travellers making others move to the wayside for him to pass by. Medicine Water died in 1926 aged ninety–one. John Sipes Jr. Seated Cheyenne Chief, Council of Forty-Four & Tribal Historian. Great Great Grandson of Medicine Water.

Medicine Water

These lyrics are quite dark and urgent and can be interpreted on more than one level. In a literal sense the verses describe the breakdown of a relationship leaving the enigma of the chorus but as a whole the song describes more of a metaphysical experience, the existence of good and bad spirit medicine. The Great Plains are full of stories if you stop long enough to make acquaintance of the people and allow the stories to be revealed. A story told to me by a well respected trader in the late 1990’s has long remained in my consciousness. It is the story of a pair of buffalo medicine horns that were traded around the American West for many years. Ill fortune from significant loss of property through fire, exploding cars and woes of a more personal nature variously plagued each of the owners of these horns. After five years and driving through a heavy rain storm hoping to change his fortune the most recent owner of the horns presented them for sale. Assessing the extraordinarily stressed man and his offering the above mentioned trader left his counter and shortly returned with a shovel advising him “Do yourself a favour and dig a deep hole in a field and bury the horns forever. Forget about making money on a sale it’s not worth it.” Of unknown origin the buffalo medicine horns had never been deconsecrated and held bad spirit medicine. The man followed this advice and his good fortune slowly returned. This is a true story and an allegorical introduction to the issues of acquisition, custodianship and repatriation of sacred and cultural objects. On a lighter note buffalo do not shed their horns so exit that relationship with grace and dignity while there is still a semblance of life. Andrew Hogarth.

Buffalo Medicine Horns

This is my tribute to the man who confirmed the existence of and helped me understand those shadows in my romantic childhood dreams. Raised on a steady diet of movies and television series about the wild west I wondered why the Indians were always cast as the bad guys, generally relegated to a treacherous mob and where did they go after their daring and deadly deeds? As a child and a Scot living under British rule I intrinsically understood that we were breaking their spirit, stealing their land and destroying their culture. It had happened to our people too. Fast forward twenty years and finding myself a casualty of Thatcher’s Britain I ventured onto the Great Plains with no particular purpose other than to have a look around. No not a potential redemption story but idle time put to good use with the expectation of nothing in return. Early in my journey I met Jack Little a full blood Oglala-Brulé-Lakota from the Rosebud Reservation, South Dakota. Born in 1920 in an eighteen pole framed tepee, named in the traditional way by a Lakota holy man and descended from survivors of the infamous 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre Jack’s life like so many of his contemporaries would follow a previously unchartered path. A traditional man in an untraditional world. Our friendship engaged me with a reality much greater than the cowboys and Indians of my childhood in fact an epic story of conquerers versus the conquered, rich versus poor, the powerful versus powerless experienced by and witnessed through one man’s life. It showed me that if you believe in the Great Spirit or a God if you prefer that term then the measure of  a man’s life is more likely to be judged in the here and now, in the small kindnesses, how you conduct yourself in everyday transactions during both the good times and the bad. One of the great challenges in life is to make the complex easy to understand. In Jack Little’s story is a man’s life played out against the background of unprecedented change, unimaginable loss and institutionalised disadvantage approached with honesty, dignity and integrity. A staunch advocate with a generous heart for his people, culture and the land. Not afraid to speak out against the greed, paucity of spirit and often destructive nature of our society. In such a changing world Jack Little did not have the honour of earning his warrior’s name but like the coyote a master of adaptation his spirit lives on in his people the Lakota.  A hard life no doubt but a life well lived.  Andrew Hogarth.

Coyote Man

The epic story of the flight of the Nez Perce is legendary. Eight hundred souls pursued some twelve hundred miles by the US Army across the daunting monumental landscapes of Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana over the course of more than a hundred and twenty days only to be denied freedom just shy of the Canadian border. A classic tale of a tolerant tentative friendship usurped by the arrogance and greed of the proponents of Manifest Destiny. On 9 August 1877 the US Army launched a pre-dawn attack on the Nez Perce encampment at Big Hole, Montana. The Nez Perce believing their pursuers were some way off had taken time to rest and replenish supplies in the bountiful elevated valley. The ensuing battle lasted two days and saw the  indiscriminate death of some eighty Nez Perce men, women and children, thirty soldiers and civilian volunteers as well as a significant number of wounded. Gaining the ascendency during the battle the Nez Perce managed to bury their dead and flee the valley.  While a  tactical victory for the Nez Perce, the loss of warrior strength decimated their ongoing fighting ability. This proved an influential factor in their final decision to surrender at Bear Paw, Montana just forty miles south of the Canadian border. Big Hole is a memorable battlefield. I first walked the village site some thirty years ago and was struck by a deep sense of sadness and spiritual disquiet. It is a place of substantive and indefinable energy. The power of this place was again revealed to me in 2008. In an early morning trail walk up the mountain to the siege area my quiet contemplation was interrupted by a fearsome roar. The presence of a Puma concolor ‘the cat of many names” revealed itself. Partially obscured by a nearby tree the distinctive profile was unmistakable. The decisive swishing of it’s tail led to an outwardly calm but less than graceful retreat. A fitting emblem of this story; a vast ranging, powerful, solitary, misunderstood being capable of adaptation and protective unity in a time of need. Weyakin rich…to experience Big Hole is to open yourself up to the past and in that process understand that unity over division will always be one of the true manifestations of power. Andrew Hogarth.

GP III

Big Hole

There are moments in your life of absolute clarity where seemingly disparate events line up as if meant to be. Children of the Mist was conceived in one of those moments.  A clear sunny Sydney day with the brilliant coastal light making even the ordinary look extraordinary, the words of a much respected elder humming below the surface of my consciousness and the vibrancy of three young children on their first visit to the city. In 1998 I was invited to photograph Yuin elder Gaboo Ted Thomas, a man of quiet dignity and wisdom. Those qualities were born of a life well lived; hardworking and with far reaching dreams.  Musician, archaeologist, activist, historian and a revivalist of sorts. Gaboo sought to engage with and enrich humanity through The Dreaming. A tree of spiritual significance to his clan was our chosen location. Throughout our photoshoot his quiet repetition of the mantra “the world has lost it’s soul” undulated as both a lament and a challenge. It has remained with me ever since. Almost a decade later a chance encounter initiated a photoshoot that I had originally declined. Three young sisters were enjoying a holiday in the city safe under the watchful eye and warm embrace of their Maori grandmother Alice; a respite from the sometimes darker circumstances of life up North. Wide eyed, ebullient and fearless Zoe, Joyce and Lydia appeared to not have a care in the world. I was struck by their grace, good manners and despite their age an inner calmness. It was a fun photoshoot enjoyed by all. Those bright sunny days remind me that Mother Earth gives generously of her spirit and of our duty to protect and nurture her. My hope is that the world will once again reclaim it’s soul and as in The Dreaming community spirit will thrive in communion with our natural world.  Andrew Hogarth.

OFU III

Children of the Mist

What is it within an individual that emboldens them to say no …I will fight to the end but not diminish myself within that fight? This I feel captures the essence of Quanah Parker, born on the southern plains to a Comanche Chief and a captive white woman blessed and burdened by the heritage of two worlds. A much loved child to a near destitute orphan, a fierce resistance fighter and accomplished warrior, politician, lawman, rancher and businessman, polygamist, community leader, family man, spiritual leader, a staunch advocate for his people and perspicacious in nature. Quanah Parker was one of those rare individuals able to operate with fluency in two worlds.

The Comanche successfully denied infiltration of interlopers into their territory until near decimation of the southern buffalo herd by voracious government sanctioned hunters began to severely affect their commissary in the early 1870’s. The 1874 Comanche, Kiowa and Cheyenne coalition attempted to stave off this offensive but with little effect. An attack on buffalo hunters at Adobe Walls ushered in the Red River War of 1874-1875. The great Comanche horse herd, integral to their way of life was slaughtered en masse in Palo Duro Canyon during the war, a seminal event ultimately leading to the fall of the free ranging Comanche.  By 1875 there was little choice but to submit to reservation life. Quanah Parker and his Quahadi band were the last to surrender.

In quiet testament to the might of the Comanche the dried bleached bones of their horses still lay  evident on the Palo Duro Canyon floor some seventy-five or more years later. A familiar sight to ranchers in the area their startling disappearance remains a mystery.

Quanah Parker’s house in Cache Oklahoma still stands but only just. Named for it’s striking rooftop decoration the house once an epicentre of bicultural life now stands in a destitute state. A veil of apathy unrelieved by a still evident genuine affection has charted an uncertain future for it’s survival. I visited the house in 1990 and looking through the window at that simple table around which Quanah Parker hosted some of the great cultural figures of the last two centuries I wondered how he would have navigated and resolved this dilemma. 

A principled man with a strong moral compass, a future vision and the ability to build consensus amongst diverse people often ahead of the public mood. Steadfast in his beliefs but not blind to  the need for change. Quanah Parker was a formidable antecedent of today’s Comanche Nation. Andrew Hogarth.

Comanche Moon

On the 25th of April, 2018 writer-photographer-storyteller Andrew Hogarth and musician Chris Fisher spoke with radio presenter Chris Virtue on his "Virtual Unreality Show" talking about their final three new songs for their "Great Plains Album 2000-2018." Hogarth and Fisher have worked periodically over the last eighteen years writing and producing a timeless sixteen track album of songs that honour the Lakota-Sioux and Cheyenne Freedom Fighters from the mid to late Nineteenth Century in their quest to preserve their lands and way of life from the invading Anglo-Americans who were moving into their country. The new tracks "Comanche Moon" and "Big Hole" take on a new storytelling adventure when they speak about the life and times of Comanche War Chief Quanah Parker and his interesting life. Plus the horrific attack by Colonel John Gibbons and his soldiers on the Nez Perce village camped at the Big Hole in Montana in early August, 1977. The third song recorded "Children of the Mist" is the happy song about the innocence of youth. All three songs were highlighted on "Virtual Unreality" along with the Great Plains album classics "Sitting Bull" and "Crazy Horse."

2RRR 88.5 FM Radio Gladesville 25.4.2018.

Andrew Hogarth & Chris Fisher 2RRR 88.5 FM Radio Gladesville, Sydney, NSW, Australia 25.4.2018.

"The Great Plains Alternative Rock Album" is the culmination of a collaboration between artist storyteller Andrew Hogarth and Sydney musician Chris Fisher. The album comprises sixteen songs recorded over a eighteen year period from 2000-2018 with concepts derived from Hogarth’s love of Native American and Plains War history. Hogarth's extensive travels of 200,000 miles throughout the Great Plains region of the USA and the honouring of oral traditions through to Fisher’s observations of love, life and universal struggle. 

"The Great Plains Alternative Rock Album" is dedicated to the memory of Southern Cheyenne Bowstring Warrior Society War Chief Medicine Water (1835-1926). The inspired and tenacious resistance of the Cheyenne and Lakota Nations to stop the tide of America’s Manifest Destiny in the period of 1854-1890 underpins many of the songs however it is the triumph of the human spirit that unifies the album.

The original eleven track album was written and recorded over an eighteen month period 2000-2001 under the guidance of producer and recording engineer Adam Barns at Smokin & Jokin Recording Studios in Artarmon and mastered by Meredith Brooks at Soundwarp Studios, Brookvale, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

In late August, 2016 Hogarth and Fisher reunited to record two of Hogarth's 2009 lyrics "Coyote Man" and "Buffalo Medicine Horns" to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Great Plains Alternative Rock Album. Adam Barns was once again brought on board to engineer and produce the new material. The songs were recorded at One Flight Up Recording Studios one of Sydney's premier recording facilities in the suburb of St. Peters.

In mid December, 2017 and again in early January, 2018 Hogarth and Fisher returned back into One Flight Up Recording Studios to record the final three songs for "The Great Plains Alternative Rock Album" once again two of Hogarth's lyrics were selected from 2009 "Children of the Mist" and "Big Hole." The third song recorded in the studio was "Comanche Moon" and it was a tribute song to the life and times of Comanche War Chief Quanah Parker. "Comanche Moon" was written over a seven week period in May-June, 2018 to compliment the other material on the album. The songs were once again engineered and produced by Adam Barns and they were mastered on the 25th of March, 2018. 

Hogarth’s extensive fieldwork has resulted in three photographic collections and the publication of six books. His collection "Powwow: Native American Celebration" was one of only fourteen to be chosen from a worldwide call for submissions by Exhibits USA resulting in a three year national tour of the United States of America. Powwow debuted at the Dr. Martin Luther King National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee in October 2000 with subsequent exhibitions in prominent museums and art galleries across thirteen American states. 

Hogarth’s work has been published in newspapers and magazines from the front cover of the USA national newspaper "Indian Country Today" to a recent extensive feature story in "Australian Journey Magazine" in December, 2012. Hogarth was invited to speak about his life and work at the inaugural Newcastle Writers Festival in early April, 2013.

In early 2014 Hogarth exhibited a selection of digital images from his "Native America: Dinetah to the Greasy Grass 2008-2013" portfolio at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia as part of their “Healing Arts Program.” 

Chris Fisher is a multi instrumentalist and writer/composer with a passion for music and indigenous cultures. Chris was the singer/songwriter for the heavy metal band Pulse 8 for eight years. Chris has also written and recorded a vast collection of songs in his home based studio, covering many different genres of traditional and contemporary music and has collaborated with several talented independent artists, both established and up-and-coming. Today Chris lives in the city of Wollongong with his young daughter Lily.

Andrew Hogarth and Chris Fisher

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