Listening to Inyan portrays a story of creation from the Octeti Sakowin (The Seven Council Fires)

 

As the story goes, Inyan (Stone), a compassionate and powerful being, made Ina Maka (Mother Earth), and Wi (Sun) to keep her warm. Finally, he used his own blood and much of his power to make Mni (Water). In doing so he became hard and could not move. Inyan could no longer speak and he became embedded in Ina Maka. Inyan is the oldest and wisest of our ancestors. It is said that he still listens.

 

The site-specific exhibition was developed for the Jackson Hole Center for the Arts to come face to face with humankind’s relationship to the changing landscape. The body of work represents 365 species of beings that live within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem focusing the Snake River as the essential life force of the locale.

 

Listening to Inyan, calls upon the Lakota symbol "Kapemni", stone forms, and the sacred color blue (signifying Inyan) to reinforce the knowledge within indigenous communities that all living beings are connected and that parts of nature like stone, water, sun, and moon are understood to be living. Berg presents the story of Inyan as a reminder to humankind that we are living members of a universal ecosystem that must be cared for to sustain life for ourselves and all the beings connected to us.