Headlands Center for the Arts

Artist Statement

My current art practice explores contemporary Native American identity through the lens of Diné (Navajo) womanhood. Inspired by acts of decolonization, environmental justice, Indigenous feminism, and futurism, my work dares to imagine a world where Native sensibilities are magnified. By way of fragmented abstraction, bodily scale, and the marrying of natural and synthetic materials, my work provokes conversations about what it means to resist colonization in the present-day United States of America.

In an effort to imagine decolonial futures, I often pair unexpected elements together and include Native beadwork, leatherwork, and fiber to complicate our understanding of inherited tradition and value. Through my interdisciplinary art practice, I aim to braid together our communal stories of loss and survival to promote understanding and respect across cultural divides.

While at Headlands

While at Headlands I plan to develop a series of intimate works on paper and sculptural assemblages that respond to Western stereotypes of Native American figures found on consumer goods. I am particularly interested in exploring this through the deconstruction and abstraction of promotional packaging and merchandise. For me, there is a direct correlation with the sale and consumption of such products and the ongoing exploitation and contamination of Native land, resources, and people. Over time I will address this complex relationship through sourcing memorabilia secondhand and altering it to culminate in a materially rich body of work that reclaims and reimagines what Indigenous representation looks like.