[ Rhythmic beating ] Gould Jacinto: "Separation and starvation are the effects of colonization.

From exploitation, the pendulum swings to conservation.

The balance we find in our Indigenous nation we conquer the effects, the seventh generation."

[ Drum beating, man chanting in native language ] Casey: I came up with "Indigenous Approaches, Sustainable Futures" about three years ago, and I started working with Indigenous artists and how they looked at identity, land and sustainability.

[ Man chanting in native language ] Ellis: It's no secret that we, not just as Indigenous people, but as human beings, have this unexplainable relationship to the land.

Ashton-Dunkley: When Indigenous people are allowed to express themselves with the land and working one with the land, are things that historically my people have done forever.

Gould Jacinto: Living one with nature.

We also live one with our art.

Somebody looking at it from the outside, they see as art.

We see it as a part of life.

"We on the ball now gain a vocation.

The pendulum swings with a slow sensation from exploitation to conservation."

Casey: One of my responsibilities as a curator is to make sure as many experiences and lenses are expressed through exhibitions.

The best thing I can do is sort of get out of the way and just really show voices and experiences not as often heard of.

Ashton-Dunkley: Here at Stockton, I have five pieces called "The Spores of Change."

I have a cross-body bag, a gourd purse.

I have an upcycled jean jacket, a ribbon skirt that's partially upcycled, some upcycled kitted-out Puma sneakers, and I have a reclaimed salvaged sheet metal with Land Back sign.

It's my hope that I've inspired spores of change for the students and everybody who visits here with upcycling and showing that Indigenous modern connection to the Earth.

It's important to reclaim sovereignty over one's land and culture.

But we have to admit that we never gave it up.

[ Ellis chanting in native language ] There was a time between the Trail of Tears and the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978, where we weren't allowed to practice our culture.

And that's less than 50 years ago.

We were practicing illegally in fear that they'd probably get themselves hurt, killed, imprisoned.

That's still something that we're dealing with today.

[ Drum beating ] [ Chanting in native language ] As a youth group coordinator of the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape tribe, a lot of what we do is to give the youth within our communities kind of a spotlight, as well as some exposure to walking in both worlds.

[ Drumming continues ] Learning these songs, it's very important, not just to me, but to our entire community.

This was how we maintained our language.

[ Men chanting in native language ] [ Chanting continues ] Ellis: We came to Stockton to have a sit-down with some of the executives, directors.

The coordinator, she came to our youth retreat and did a photography workshop with our youth.

One of the benefits of our tribes tribal grounds in New Jersey is that we all know those lands.

My sister-in-law Tyrese Gould Jacinto was able to acquire the Cohanzick Nature Reserve.

It kind of doubled as a reason for our youth to begin to learn those lands.

And that's how we produced most of these photos that we have behind me and my youth got to come and see their art here.

A lot of them are now beginning pursuing their artistic sides more in a serious level.

Gould Jacinto: Knowledge is not meant to be hoarded.

Knowledge is meant to be given to the next generations to make their life better.

So working with the youth group is always a pleasure because the children are like sponges to learn and to be just as I was.

I consider myself a creator, and I like to create from what Mother Nature affords me, such as the gourds.

My pieces in this exhibition are all different.

Every perfect imperfection causes it to have a different line, different shape, and a different outcome.

I plant the seed, grow the gourds, dry them for two years and they become a hardwood, and then figure out what that piece speaks to, what it wants to be.

When I cut them open, I will replant the seeds that I got, and that's what goes into the greenhouse to give me more gourds.

So when you think about it, if a gourd has been cultivated for 10,000 years, and this gourd is the seeds of my ancestors that I'm planting into the garden, it's like a sacred symbiosis of working with the ancestors.

So your sustainability is the fact that it reproduces itself over and over.

And if you cultivate that seed and you take care of that seed, it just continues to grow.

[ Man chanting in native language ] Casey: We often think about Indigenous communities as historic and so many exhibitions sort of focus on that element.

But these are Indigenous voices now, and like the name implies, sustainable futures, these are the voices we're gonna hear in the future as well.

Ellis: We as Indigenous people have to learn how to walk that fine line between reclaiming our culture and living in modern-day society.

Ashton-Dunkley: Art plays a huge role in getting Indigenous voices heard.

It is a way to speak through the attempted silence.

Every catastrophic thing that happened to Indigenous people -- Denial, right?

Removal -- can be turned on its head with art.

Gould Jacinto: All these years, there was not any interest.

Now there's an interest.

Now it's our responsibility.

And then when you're called to the seat at the table, you're prepared.

You have the knowledge.

Now we have to step up to that plate.

Appreciation with a harsh realization.

The answer is not tribalization, but Indigenous nation.

The balance, revelation, creation.