Buffalo Circles: Conjuring the Buffalo Way

Not long ago 30 million buffalo thundered across the land we now call North America. By the late 1800s, a calculated extermination campaign had nearly extinguished this mythic being, leaving less than 500 animals in its ferocious wake. Today it is nearly impossible to imagine, let alone feel, millions of hooves drumming in our stomach; smell churned earth and musky beast rising on hot prairie air; see the vast ocean of animals that fed us, clothed us, sustained a continental trade and economies, inspired the ceremonies, prayers, and art that defined our very identities and cultures. Brave visionaries are responsible for the recovery of the small herds sprinkled across the landscape today. An enormous feat to which we all owe an enormous thank you.But neither humanity, nor wild nature, have recovered from the ravaging loss of this epic spirt who once nourished our bodies, hearts, and souls. The current bison restoration effort is far from enough. Especially now when the world is more at risk and divided than it’s ever been. The fault lines of politicized injustice, racism, and violence are raw and exposed and the natural systems that sustain life are unravelling. Buffalo restoration not only provides a path to heal our fractured relationship with the natural world, but also with each other and our own humanity. Breathing life into and gaining fluency in the principles of the Buffalo Way—Respect. Relationship. Reciprocity. Rewilding. Rematriation. Reconciliation—can guide us to an entirely different world: a world that is diverse, equitable, inclusive, and just. A world that not only survives, but thrives.Art and culture are potent vehicles for this challenging journey and the emergence of Buffalo Circles serve as both catalytic ceremony and call to collective inspired action. The Buffalo Circles are an invitation to evoke Buffalo in our words, painting, graffiti, music, dance, film, and sculpture. Let’s reignite Buffalo’s creative fire and our own—so we can once again walk the Buffalo Way together.