This painting carries two intertwined stories. Little Hawk died young in the early 1870s. His death marked a turning point for Crazy Horse, who carried his memory and sometimes even used his name as an alias. No photographs of this Little Hawk exist — he passed before Lakota leaders were being documented in studios.

The photographs we do have, often labeled “Little Hawk,” are of a different man — a Brulé Lakota elder photographed decades later by Edward S. Curtis. Same name, different life.

My painting draws on those photographs for its visual form, while honoring the spirit of the younger brother who left no image behind.