Pictured is one of the crosses painted with the name of an extinct species as part of UP Wild Church’s Remembering Our Fellows installation. (Photo courtesy of Lanni Lantto)

MARQUETTE — Local churches are honoring National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives and National Endangered Species Day by installing public art.

Episcopal churches across the Upper Peninsula will be participating in National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives by displaying red dresses both inside and outside of congregations throughout the month of May. Red dresses are a symbol used throughout the United States and Canada to honor missing and murdered indigenous women, survivors and their families.

UP WILD Church’s exhibit, titled Remembering Our Fellows in honor of National Endangered Species Day, will be available for viewing from May 15-17 on the front lawn of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan on 131 E. Ridge St. The installation will feature white crosses painted with the names of species which have become extinct since 2020.

“The official awareness day (for missing and murdered indigenous women and relatives) falls on the birthday of Hanna Harris, of the Northern Cheyenne nation, who was murdered in 2013,” said Leora Tadgerson, director of Reparations and Justice and TJH Commission co-chair for the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan. “It wouldn’t be until 2017 that the day was recognized. Since then, the Savanna’s Act, Not Invisible Act and Violence Against Women Act reauthorization have been issued.”

Savannah’s Act and the Not Invisible Act are federal acts focused on improving the federal response to missing and murdered indigenous people, specifically women.

“It is important for the Episcopal Church to commemorate the awareness day, as it was a major denomination that took part in carrying out Indian Policy through the boarding school era, which contributes to the frameworks of racial disparities we deal with today, including MMIW,” said Tadgerson.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Marquette, where the installation can be viewed, is located at 201 E. Ridge St., in Marquette.

UP Wild Church, a cross-denominational faith group, puts on the Remembering Our Fellows installation each year.

“According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, there are more than 172,600 species on their Red List of Threatened Species with more than 48,600 species threatened with extinction,” said Lanni Lantto of UP Wild Church. “National Endangered Species Day is every third Friday in May. The day is a time to raise awareness about endangered species, celebrate conservation efforts, and encourage people to learn more about protecting vulnerable wildlife and their habitats. Members of U.P. Wild Church prayerfully painted each cross in remembrance that each species was made by, belongs to and is loved by our Creator.”

This year’s list of plants and animals, whose species names are painted on each cross, include birds, a shrew, and a species of snail.

“We were inspired by a quote from a Christian Saint, ‘The whole earth is a living icon of the face of God,'” said Lantto. We are remembering that there is a long tradition within the Christian life of honoring beauty as witness to God’s original artistry. For us, the crosses bring that original connection back to our attention.”

Along with the crosses, there will be a station where observers can sign up to “spiritually adopt” one of the extinct beings.

“No matter our background, we are all united in that we have felt loved by a little creature at some point in our lives,” said Lantto. “We’ve experienced their companionship, shared a connection and we remember them as being created in and worthy of love. This remembrance falls between the western Christian observance of Ascension and Pentecost which is a very holy time acknowledging that God is there for us and that the Holy Spirit dwells with us.”

The two installations, while not directly connected, touch on similar themes.

“There just happens to be a beautiful connection that both pieces call us to pause and allow ourselves to feel grief and sadness and allow us to lament for our losses,” said Lantto. “Having a reverence for life brings us into a spiritual and humane relationship with our fellows and the Mystery which created us.”

Both installations will be free for public viewing.

Annie Lippert can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550. Her email address is alippert@miningjournal.net.