The painted bronze edition "Butterfly Effect" is a composite figure, melding the anthropological imagination with consumer aesthetics. The head, borrowed from a Toby-style mug, bears the stereotypical portrait of a stoic chieftain, complete with a ceremonial headdress; this visage is juxtaposed with the caricatured garb of the body, adapted from a mid-century Precious Moments “Native American-style” figurine. The design and function of "Butterfly Effect" address multiple material and economic histories, underscoring the thorny lineage of American decorative objects and the larger relationship between Native art production and non-Native consumption.

Of the edition and its title, Jeffrey Gibson says: "The butterfly effect is about how small changes can alter grand shifts in how events unfold. In the case of this bronze edition, the novelty figures referenced through the sculpture’s design are objects with a significant influence on the way people have thought about Native American representation. I also wanted to play with ideas found in the history of decoration and how imagery that is meant to reflect Native people serves to erase, and even cheapen them, within the binary between decorative, commercial objects and objects recognized as art."