photo by: Contributed

A documentary about the project to return a 28-ton red quartzite boulder to the Kaw Nation from downtown Lawrence will screen Saturday afternoon at the Kansas Union. One of the leaders of the project thinks it is a great chance to continue to share the story.

A documentary about the rematriation of a sacred red rock from a park in downtown Lawrence to Indigenous land will be screened at the University of Kansas on Saturday, with hopes the showing keeps the story alive.

The Spencer Museum of Art will host a free screening of the documentary “Return of the Sacred Red Rock” on Nov. 8 at the Woodruff Auditorium at the Kansas Union, 1301 Jayhawk Blvd. The documentary tells the process of returning Iⁿ’zhúje’waxóbe, a 28-ton red quartzite boulder that was taken from the Kaw’s traditional homelands nearly a century ago and made into a monument to Lawrence’s white settlers.

Sydney Pursel, a producer of the documentary and the curator for public practice at the Spencer, said it will be the second screening for the documentary in Lawrence since May, when the film was screened at Liberty Hall, as the Journal-World reported.

Pursel said since that screening, she heard from many community members saying they wanted to find a way to share the film with others. Because the film is “very early on” in its process for trying to get it released through a distributor or getting into film festivals, they weren’t able to share it wider, Pursel said.

But the Spencer is currently hosting an exhibition detailing the story of the work to return the sacred boulder to the Kaw Nation, which provided a chance to screen the documentary again.

“It was a great opportunity to show the documentary in Lawrence again for all the people who wanted to see it,” Pursel said.

Along with the screening of the 56-minute film, Pursel said she will lead a Q&A session afterward with a panel of people who were crucial to the project, including Ben Arredondo, the executive producer; Jeremy Charles, the director; James Pepper Henry, a Kaw citizen and member of the Sacred Red Rock project leadership team and Dave Loewenstein, a local artist who is also on the Sacred Red Rock project leadership team.

Pursel said since she began working on the project in 2022, she was surprised with how many people in Lawrence were unaware of the story behind the sacred rock. She feels the story of the boulder’s return is “remarkable and exciting” considering how many partners had to work together to “do the right thing.” Having another screening of the documentary allows Lawrence residents and the KU campus community to learn more about the work that was done.

“We’re able to share that story now who might’ve not been as looped into the project before,” Pursel said.

Along with returning the sacred boulder, Pursel said the project aimed to still ensure there was some kind of presence of the Kaw Nation or Indigenous people at Robinson Park, which used to house the rock. In March, the city installed two educational panels, with one that had information about the sacred rock and another that featured a general overview of Indigenous history in Lawrence, as the Journal-World reported.

While there have been hopes to eventually add a new monument at the site to replace the sacred rock, Pursel said that progress has slowed, because “the funding is not there” for it.

Still, the project has made strides to spread the word to the wider community. Alongside the documentary and the exhibition at the Spencer, Pursel said a book about the project, titled “Shokhí: How In’zhúje’waxóbe Returns Home and the Rematriation of a Stolen Monument,” will be released next year. Even if the future is less certain for the space, Pursel said it is important to keep the history alive.

“We want to continue to tell this story,” Pursel said.

The documentary will be screened at the Woodruff Auditorium at the Kansas Union at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 8, and will be followed by a brief panel. Pursel also said the screening was scheduled for that time so that people who see it can visit the Spencer and the exhibition about the sacred rock either before or afterward. The Museum is open on Saturdays from 12 to 5 p.m. More information is available on its website.