Native Artists Explore Sasquatch's Cultural Significance in Oregon Exhibit

There's something really special happening at the High Desert Museum in Central Oregon right now, and if you haven't heard about it yet, you're missing out. A podcast from OPB recently covered an exhibit called "Sensing Sasquatch" that's taking a completely different approach to exploring the legend of Bigfoot—one that centers Indigenous voices, traditions, and lived experiences rather than the typical roadside attraction vibe. The exhibit features five Native artists, including Charlene Moody from the Warm Springs Reservation, Philip Cash Cash (a fluent Nez Perce speaker, artist, writer, and scholar who co-curated the show), and Frank Buffalo Hyde, who has Nez Perce and Onondaga heritage. What makes this exhibit stand out is its intention to be taken seriously. As one of the artists put it, they didn't want it to feel like a tourist trap with a cardboard cutout where people pull over for photos. They wanted to create something with real depth and reverence. The multi-sensory experience includes dim lighting, moving projections, larger-than-life sculptures, a painted mural, three-dimensional installations, and a soundscape that blends natural and supernatural elements. There's even art you can touch and smell. Philip Cash Cash created a striking installation using tree branches and antlers called "Istyahanim Wayalax Sanim," which translates to "the Sasquatch's rattle." One version is 12 feet long, the other 7 feet, with deer horns suspended at the fork end. The intent was to challenge visitors and show that Sasquatch can have agency—giving reverence to a being regarded as significant and important. Frank Buffalo Hyde's piece, titled "Enigma," captures the moment when Sasquatch disappears into a different dimension. He used fur and repurposed prosthetic maquettes to create a 9-foot sculptural installation with sound elements. He even incorporated infrasound—that deep, disorienting vibration that some predators use in nature and that many Sasquatch witnesses have described feeling during encounters. That's a phenomenon researchers have been studying for years, as it could explain some of the unease people report in Bigfoot hotspots. Charlene Moody's contribution includes a silhouette of Sasquatch with buffalo hide attached, featuring the image of Mount Hood, forests, and a little family sharing stories around a campfire. She mentioned hiding a Sasquatch figure somewhere in the piece because, as she put it, "a lot of times when you go out there, you don't really know. So you got to look and you'll find it, maybe." She also prepared the hide using fresh greens like cedar, Douglas fir, juniper, and sage, so visitors could smell the forest where this being lives. One of the most compelling parts of the podcast is when Charlene shares a personal encounter she had while huckleberry picking. She was sitting next to a cedar tree, picking berries and talking to what she thought was her mom standing nearby. Something inside told her not to look up, but she could see the figure in her peripheral vision. When it didn't respond, she eventually realized her mom was way down the hill. The figure just walked back into the trees. She described it as a big-shouldered silhouette, and it was genuinely scary. Philip Cash Cash also spoke about how, in Indigenous communities, the conversation around Sasquatch isn't about whether to believe—it's about experience. The experience is the basis for understanding, and many community members have had encounters up to the present. This perspective aligns with what many longtime researchers have come to understand: that Sasquatch isn't just a creature to be proven or disproven, but a being that exists in a very real sense and holds spiritual significance. The exhibit runs at the High Desert Museum, and the OPB podcast "Evergreen" has full coverage worth checking out. It's a refreshing take that honors the deep cultural relationship many Indigenous communities have with Sasquatch—something that goes far beyond the beer cans, t-shirts, and road signs that dominate pop culture. Definitely worth a listen for anyone interested in the deeper side of this phenomenon.