Nicholas Galanin’s Talking Stick transforms a traditional Indigenous symbol of dialogue into a white porcelain police baton, gilded with the Great Seal of the United States. Porcelain – a material rooted in European colonial trade – embodies the fragility of the power structures it critiques. Suspended gold finials bearing a metal eagle and a bullet casing create a precarious balance, symbolizing how violence and nationalism underpin American authority. Galanin exposes the contradictions of patriotic imagery, reclaiming Indigenous ceremony to confront systemic oppression and outdated histories.