In the middle of the night on Thanksgiving 1990, the same weekend that the film Dances with Wolves opened in theaters, artist/activists Nick Fracaro and Gabriele Schafer erected a replica of a Lakota tipi in the center of New York City’s longest-existing shantytown and then lived in it for almost three years.

The tipi was dedicated that December 29 – the centenary of the Wounded Knee Massacre – in remembrance of the lives lost in 1890 and in recognition of the sovereignty and dignity of the most disenfranchised and forgotten members of our society a century later.

The encampment, located at the foot of the Manhattan Bridge at Canal and Chrystie Streets, was colloquially known as “The Hill,” and 80,000+ motorists passed it every day. Gabriele kept a journal (“The Hill” – Autonomedia) that detailed their day-to-day lives as they navigated drug dealers, one of New York's largest-ever police corruption scandals, and city politics in the era of Mayor David Dinkins (elected to solve the homeless problem). It traces the steps of how a shantytown went from the anonymity of waist-high huts hidden in the weeds to becoming a tour bus and celebrity stop; from addicts just getting by to a drug supermarket at the height of the AIDS crisis; from a close-knit encampment to a crime scene that entangles everyone when an arson fire kills the most innocent of them all.

In this podcast, Gabriele and Nick tell the story of their time in the “tipi on the hill” by way of their work leading up to it, their 40+ year creative partnership, and reflections on a life lived together at the intersection of art, culture, politics, and spirituality.

*www.thievestheatre.org*

@tipionthehill

This podcast tells their story.

An Untamed Network Original Podcast

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