When in North London – or anyplace else, does this happen to you? A thought occurs, you turn to which ever device is to hand and before you know it, the original question is lost in mists of diversion and you find yourself looking at photographs of First People of Turtle Island, the original inhabitants’ term for their land, namely what is now North&South Americas&Canada.

Captivated by the strength of character in every single face of this montage of Turtle Islanders, you can see them all here.

If you look, perhaps you’ll share a sense of dismay in the documenting of a whole culture which now exists subsidiary to a European model.

Such was the way of the world.

It’s odd, isn’t it, that those whose dignity has never been questioned seem ‘to hold their manhood cheap’ while others robbed of grace and stature, are the living embodiment of those virtues others discard.

In light of the potential for begetting a fresh model of existence, perhaps we can all play a role in giving others the space and permission to live truly in the dignity of their culture? Rather than forcing others into our moulds, might not sitting together to smoke a pipe of peace achieve more?

A poem, We the first People, whose author is unknown ends …

But my question is | How did we exist | For hundreds of centuries without them?

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