A striking and solemn migration took place across the streets of Lower Manhattan today as a herd of 40 life-sized buffalo puppets made their way through the urban landscape. Titled Return of the Buffalo: Tatanka Owe Akupi—with the Lakota phrase translating directly to "buffalo trail home"—the public performance art project serves as a profound homage. Specifically, the procession pays solemn tribute to the 38 Dakota men who were executed by order of President Abraham Lincoln in Mankato, Minnesota, in December 1862, marking the largest mass execution in United States history.
The procession began next to Bowling Green Park on the morning of September 18, 2026, with the magnificent, towering mammalian puppets plodding deliberately past iconic city landmarks. The herd’s route carried them through historic areas including Federal Hall, the World Trade Center site, Chinatown, Broad Street Plaza, Zuccotti Park, and several other locations deeply intertwined with the layered history of the region. After concluding the first leg of their journey in Manhattan, the procession is scheduled to cross the river to hit downtown Brooklyn for its second and final leg.
The expansive and deeply collaborative project was brought to life by theater writer and director Amir Nizar Zuabi. To ensure the presentation honored Indigenous history with utmost authenticity and respect, Zuabi worked in close collaboration with descendants of the Lenape—the original Indigenous inhabitants of the New York City region—as well as Lakota elders. The mammal holds a deeply sacred relationship with Lakota communities and other Native nations, a spiritual and cultural bond that spans thousands of years.
JJ Lind, a citizen of the Cherokee-Shawnee nation who serves as the artistic director for the performance group Immediate Medium, explained the collaborative ethos guiding the production to Hyperallergic. "We just followed the elders’ lead in who they wanted involved, what they wanted to be said, really letting them shape the conceptual backbone of the work," Lind said. He further emphasized the community-driven nature of the planning process, noting that organizers regularly brought community members into the fold to provide vital feedback on the performances, rituals, and educational activities unfolding along the designated migration route.
The journey of the puppets was far from a silent march. At nine distinct historic sites throughout Manhattan, the migration was punctuated by concurrent, powerful performances. Native dance troupes, gospel choirs, and Lenape youth shared spaces along the route, creating a dynamic, living backdrop that blended artistic expression with historical reflection. These localized performances provided emotional resonance, turning busy metropolitan plazas into spaces of remembrance, mourning, and resilience.
Beyond honoring the 38 Dakota men of Mankato, the procession meticulously traces the broader, complex history of the American bison—commonly known as the buffalo—within the United States. This narrative spans the catastrophic 19th-century era of industrial-scale slaughter, when government-backed policies nearly drove the species to total extinction as a deliberate strategy to dismantle Indigenous ways of life. Alongside this tragedy, the performance highlights the inspiring modern recovery of the species, which has been fiercely championed by Native activists, tribal nations, and conservationists working tirelessly to restore the buffalo to its ancestral lands.
Through the striking visual medium of giant puppets moving through the concrete canyons of New York City, Return of the Buffalo bridges past and present, offering residents and visitors alike an unvarnished look at the intertwined histories of America’s original peoples and its native wildlife.
