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John Doyle: Healing Across Cultures, 2023
The central figure in Blackfoot Medicine Man stands out compared to the bright yellow background. The traditional belief system of the Blackfoot, a tribe historically connected to the northern Great Plains region, is animistic, meaning they believe in the spirits of animals and natural features. The pipe which the medicine man is holding was used to eliminate evil spirits in cleansing rituals. One method that medicine men used to exorcise illness was sucking the diseased spirit from the body through a pipe and blowing it out.
Text by Tomoki Moriyama, Washburn student