Osage artists are collaborating on a Water Zine and are accepting submissions until Aug. 31.
Writer Aimee Inglis and artist Alex DeRoin are partnered on the project.
Any creative work from digital, creative nonfiction, art and poetry will be accepted and published in a pamphlet or zine
“It’s a condensed, shortened magazine in a budget-friendly format,” DeRoin said. “Traditionally it started as artists would use it to make random little pamphlets and give them out to show their art, or different organizations and marginalized groups have used them in the past to promote their messages and promote issues and get people more aware. It’s from the people to the people.”
A panel discussion was held last year over the reconnection theme where Osages shared their poetry and artwork, some of which incorporated language. It allowed Osages to come together as a community and volunteer involvement. Inglis received great feedback from it, and decided to pick another topic of interest, this time revolving around water.
“I think having that space is important,” Inglis said. “And building that awareness around water issues, both through asking people to engage and think more deeply about it, and distributing it, so people can see, ‘This is something that matters to Osage people,’ and ‘What’s going on with our water rights.’”
Inglis’ goal with the campaign is that water within Osage County becomes a topic of conversation as there are improvements that need to be made regarding infrastructure and also exploring the possibility of the Osage Nation obtaining its own water rights.
“I hope it creates a base for conversation and has low pressure and low barrier to entry,” Inglis said. “It’s not a literary magazine and we’re not trying to be gatekeeping, but just trying to make the space for people to be themselves and feel an open expression.”
Why are water issues in Osage County so important? Osages are referred to as Children of the Middle Waters and the Water People. Traditionally, Osages consider water a sacred place, whether it is a convergence, spring or river.
The Nation was able to obtain a grant from the USGS to complete a study on the Ada-Vamoosa aquifer, a major bedrock aquifer, and main source of water in Osage County. It was found that the part of the aquifer underneath the Osage Nation ranch was contaminated, according to the study.
Contamination of groundwater has stemmed from oil drilling, fracking and livestock waste runoff. Freshwater has also been used in the fracking processes across the county. Extreme drought over the last several years has plagued portions of Osage County including communities that get their water from Hulah Lake, creating water restrictions in Bartlesville and surrounding communities that receive their water from the reservoir. Infrastructure within Hominy and Pawhuska have been the most recent issues, Inglis said. There is also a risk of a clean water shortage in Bartlesville and Tulsa.
“It’s something we need to do something about pretty urgently,” Inglis said. “And also think about our future as a Nation and establishing water rights and being responsible for them. It’s an opportunity for Osage people to express their connection with the water and the land.”
The Osage Nation is in an ongoing discussion with the state about its water rights to the groundwater, streams and rivers in Osage county. Other tribes in Oklahoma have water rights and have fought to retain them in recent years.
“There’s a lot of complex issues to getting water rights for our people,” DeRoin said. “What I’ve been doing personally is researching the idea of actualizing our ceremonial values into law. One of the things I’m trying to push right now is the idea that we can give personhood to the rivers. By extension of personhood, giving tribal enrollment to force ecological, sustainable relationships with the water around us to get us cleaner water, to get us more sustainable infrastructure.”
Submit by August 31, 2024, via email to aimeeinglis@gmail.com.
