Artist Statement

As a Native American artist, my work encompasses my disposition with my relationships, community, and religion. All my pieces stem from the reflection of my servile tendencies, which lead to emotional conflicts and disturbances within every part of my life. Being an indigenous woman who grew up in a Christian home with close relations to family members formed a sense of devotion. This continuous contemplation of my dependency on Christianity and family later comes into conflict with my sexuality and desires.

The imagery in my work has been procured from my journals and is then translated into multimedia. My visual language derives from Native American symbolism. With the usage of Animals as symbols, I am able to express human nature. Animals project and repute the rawest of people’s characters. I combine the human figure with animal features to give context to the character and circumstance. Breasts are also a repeated symbol in my work and relate to abundance or privation depending on the quantity in the piece. Utilizing current and traditional Indigenous media such as beadwork, weaving, clay, metals, and painting I exercise my cultural technique while also transforming native crafts into a modern art form.