With Carry IV, Dyani White Hawk adorned a large copper bucket and ladle—often used to transport, distribute, and purify water—with glass beads, painted buckskin, and extravagantly long fringe that emulates the structures of tree roots. These metaphorical roots offer connection to ancestral practices, where the artist imagines past generations as nurturers whose teachings cultivated the work of artists within her community today. Museums have historically devalued and oversimplified functional artworks like vessels and ladles by labeling them as "craft," implying they possess less artistic merit than works classified as "fine art." This artwork challenges that hierarchy by physically elevating an ornamented useful object to the status of fine art, balancing the artist’s equal commitment to art and utility—and by extension, art and life.