LAB ARTIST 2023

Winfield RedCloud Woundedeye is a grass dancer, drummer, singer, educator and clothing designer from Chicago (Zhigaagoong) . He continues long lineages of dancers within the Cheyenne and Ojibwe communities. Since childhood, he has danced at cultural events, pow-wows and wacipis (Lakota word for dance and music celebration, literally “they all dance”). He plays the traditional drum (Northern Woodland style drumming and Lakota Sioux Drumming) and sings Lakota Sioux songs. A multimedia creator, he designs, sews and beads in the tradition of grass dancers, honoring the origins of his dance while exploring creative possibilities for its future. In 2020, Winfield danced at an event featuring leading Chicago hip hop artists, forging bonds across local Black and Indigenous communities. In 2021, Winfield began a collaboration with Chicago Footwork dancer Jemal de la Cruz (P-Top) and filmmaker Wills Glasspiegel for a permanent installation film at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport that unites grass dance and Chicago Footwork.

With support of the Lab Artists Program and a period of research, Winfield plans to develop and perform in a new pow-wow in Chicago in 2023 that includes a focus on the living history of the ground and city at our feet. He would like to include various elements of Chicago’s history and culture in the pow-wow, and to host the event in an industrial locale that is not traditionally associated with pow-wows.