Anunk Ite and Iktomi successfully deceived the four scouts into thinking that life on this earth was easy, that animals in abundance lived nearby, that eating their meat kept one young, and that Anunk Ite and Iktomi were helpful friends. This deception was carried through all the way to the moment when the scouts re-entered the cave with even more gifts from Anunk Ite. But when the wolf returned after guiding the scouts to the underworld, Iktomi set in motion a sinister scheme to frustrate future Pte visitors. The scouts trusted their senses that this world was paradise, but they could not have foreseen that Iktomi would trick them upon their return, or that their descendants would encounter similar deceit as they too adjusted to life in a new world.

Gazing into the turbulent, dark tonalities of Athena LaTocha’s artwork, one can sense the almost frantic pressure the Pte scouts may have experienced upon emerging into this world for the first time. They must have been acutely attuned to trying to take in the multitude of new things they were seeing. They were, after all, scouts and their people were counting on them to report back accurately what they saw and experienced. But Anunk Ite and Iktomi and even the wolves were playing tricks on them. This unpredictability is represented by Athena’s abstract expressionist approach to image-making. Drawing inspiration from non-Western artists, she describes her approach as not being “about looking upon something or beholding something; it’s about being in something.” She says, “I work on the floor because it allows me to be inside of it.”

Her process is to lay a piece of photo paper (sometimes dozens of feet long) on the floor and throw ink down onto the surface of the paper, introduce isopropyl alcohol to explore the different chemical processes and interactions that take place, and use pieces of steel-belted radial tires or other implements to drag, push, pull, dig, scratch and mark her artwork. This allows her to step back from the mastery, skill and predictability of the interactions, thereby “allowing more chance operations to take place.” This process is reminiscent of the uncertainty that Iktomi set in motion by instructing the wolf to lead the ancestors of Lakotas astray.

When the young men went back to their people Iktomi gave them presents of meat, robes, and soft tanned skins. He went with them to the entrance of the cave and there he told the wolf to guide them back to their people. When it returned he told it to wait and guide others who wished to come to the world, and when they had passed through the cave to lead them far from food and water.