Artist Statement 

My mixed-media body of work focuses on motifs on intergenerational healing through the multiple roles of nourishment, by using food to create a dialog with my viewer about the importance of my matrilineal existence. I embody multiple roles as a two-spirit matriarch, meaning I am responsible for learning from my elders and passing on that knowledge and medicine. As a queer person who identifies with existing as something more than the western binary of masculine and feminine, for me I am both and neither. I am a vessel who is responsible for passing down traditional knowledge of identity, culture, language, and survival to my children and community. 

 Growing up on multiple reservations in Oklahoma very food insecure most of my life, for me food is something very sacred, especially how traditional foods are used in multiple cultural settings. Indigenous people have struggled for food sovereignty throughout the colonial history of the United States, food sovereignty is a community’s right to have autonomy over their food systems and as such, relativizing Traditional foodways’ can be seen as a symbol of Native resilience. Food sovereignty is more than just physical food but its connection to our emotional and spiritual well-being, to me Indigenous resilience means being able to thrive and adapt to the modern world. Such as reviving language, culture, tradition, dance, and ceremonies, that the western world has tried so hard to kill and get rid of. The solidarity of continuing to just exist in these Indigenous spaces is resilience, my art reflects my family’s resilience to extermination and removal with me living today as a seventh-generation post removal to Oklahoma from my ancestral homelands. My lived experience in my multicultural background is what fuels me to keep passing down knowledge and giving my children the skills to continue passing down our family’s experiences to lead to a stronger future for not only my family but our tribe as well. My ceramics, prints, paintings, and drawings reflect on the interconnections of my relationships to the land, my ancestors, generational trauma, and how these memories and lived experiences influence my journey as a queer parent.  

My works capture the intimate moments of healing, grieving, and learning through vibrant colors, patterning, and Mvskoke cosmology in a representational but not fully realistic space.