 a multi-tribal, western and central mass focused cultural space that they would also commit to sharing beyond their own people this educational series so that all of our communities can learn about the long unacknowledged history and presence of the Nipmuc Nation and the other tribal nations present among us. The first in the Living Presence series delved into the reality of these tribes today, their presence, and the relationship to their millennia long history of presence. What became clear as Larry and Rhonda shared stories of their upbringing and their children's upbringing was how essential it is for allies and accomplices of the Indigenous community to give voice to the extreme challenges facing their community every day to living a just and acknowledged fully realized cultural life and also to developing that life for their youth. Therefore, the second and the third in the series were focused on mascot's logos, imagery, cultural appropriation, and the land back and land justice movements. Genocide and resettlement may appear to many as things passed, but we must acknowledge that a history of colonial disappearance of an entire people, peoples, their children and their land has a clear and horrifying impact upon racism today that upholds a false supremacist mirror to Native youth and to all who are subjected to an image not of their own making. It is for this reason, among others, that following the Living Presence series 3 and 4, Double Edge has entered a land use agreement for the 100 acres of our farm center at the Okitao Cultural Center. In addition to the indoor spaces of Okitao where Indigenous voices are determinant and have the final word on their own identity. I invite all of you to inquire about these types of partnerships between Indigenous organizations and accomplices as well as researching all of the Living Presence series. It's not as hard as one thinks to acknowledge truth and to share the rectification of that truth. The fourth installment of Living Presence was about Indigenous Peoples Day. What could be a more powerful statement of truth by the people of Massachusetts and all across the United States than renaming one day in October in honor of the people who have held this land sacred for millennia. Today's is devoted to art for social change. Recently, I was listening to Rhonda and Larry discuss art and its daily role in their lives. I have to say, it totally blew my mind, that conversation. Larry mentioned that there's no word for art in his Nipuc language. That's part of everything. This, as you probably know, is a whole different approach than in white culture. Rhonda mentioned that she was painting yesterday. Art is part of everyday life, music, dance, singing, painting, sacred, social, and daily. As an artist myself, this idea continues to resonate with me as an essential teaching. So then we can understand why art would be such an important part of social change and bringing awareness to missing and murdered Indigenous women and the many other hosts of severe challenges that is facing this community. As part of the broad Indigenous notion of art, we have also exhibited today two artists who are not part of the panel, vital, vibrant, visible Indigenous identity through portraiture curated by Rhonda Anderson and photography by Sarah Lyons, which is on both ends of this room. And Okiteo Double Edge, Nipuc artist and resident, Andre Strong-Bearhart, James Jr., some of whose work is over there on that table and also information about her. I also want to introduce visiting youth artist, Manta Sylvester Anishinaabe, whose theatrical work you will have a chance to see later in the season this year. I'd like to thank Howround for broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New England Foundation for the Arts, and our sponsors, the Jacobs Pillow, and the Strategic Partnership at Mass Humanities. Now I'd like to introduce the co-directors of Okiteo. Rhonda Anderson is a Nupiak by the Baskin from Alaska. Her life work is most importantly, as a mother, a classically trained herbalist, silversmith, and activist. She works as an educator activist on the removal of mascots, water protector, Indigenous identity, and protecting her traditional homelands in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from Extractive Industry. Rhonda is the curator of the entire Living Presence series. Rhonda has been named a Commonwealth Heroine and is commissioner of Indian Affairs in Western Massachusetts and the founder of both Okiteo and the Native Youth Empowerment Foundation. Larry Spott and Gro Man is a citizen of the Nipma Nation. He is a nationally acclaimed award-winning writer, poet, and cultural educator, traditional storyteller, tribal drummer, dancer, and motivational speaker involving youth, sobriety, cultural, and environmental awareness. Larry's books include Morning Road to Thanksgiving, Drumbing and Dreaming, and Tales from the Whispering Bastet, and they are available online for through Javillage Okiteo websites. Larry recently premiered a segment from his new play, Freedom and Season, and is creating a children's book series. He has been a board member of the Nipma Preservation, is on the review committee at the Native American Poets Project, is the artist and resident at Bumper Hill Community College, and travels throughout the U.S. Canada and parts of Europe, free COVID, to schools, colleges, power, other organizations, sharing music, culture, and history to Nipma people. Larry lectures on Native American sovereignty and identity. He is co-founder and co-director of Okiteo and NYU and will now introduce you to living presence of our history. Piana. Thank you, our panelists for being here today. It's real obvious, it's a real stretch of the new places. They're all special, but this is more special, and more, more special. Every time it's more things that we really dive into that are very pertinent to what we are today. So once again, Nipma and I, it's very important of me to first speak in my language to kind of help recognize it and help us to form what we are today. So as we say, in that moment, we say, I reach through the words of our Nipma and Algonquin language, words of peace, words of reciprocity, words that I ask that what we share here today, that we all lead with that reciprocity, giving back and forth, that we're a leap year in a better states, in a better understanding of each other, and we are getting that insight to help us move forward in a good way. And as we do in my community here, we always have to open up a song. And I think today I want to share a healing song. There are so many folks out there who are particularly from this pandemic, and in other issues, which we're brought upon because of that, such as in isolation, and the different things that we're all experiencing in our community. So I wanted to share this healing song to help another. Almost in tears, like I've heard this song since and, you know, several times now, but this time it takes on a different meaning for me, not only because of COVID, but because of the art that's surrounding us. It really requires a lot of healing. And so, you know, you're singing, I'm almost, I'm almost in tears all day today. So Western Massachusetts Commissioner on Indian Affairs and co-director of Okateo Cultural Center. So thank you for being here and thank you for listening today. So I said, welcome and good afternoon in my traditional language. I am from Alaska. I've lived here in Western Massachusetts for most of my life, and I choose to live here. You know, I grew up, I say this every time, but it's important. I grew up right next door in Plainfield and went to school here in this town in Ashefield. The land that I am privileged to steward and live on in Colrain is the traditional homelands of Sokoke, Abenaki, and Pakumtuk, and it's on the Pakumagon River watershed, which is known as the Green River today. To get started, I really, I want to recognize this land that I'm a guest on and really just give a deep appreciation for her living being and gratitude for all that she's provided since time immemorial. And recognize that this land that we are all benefiting from at this moment in time is Wabanaki Confederacy Territory. Wabanaki means the place where the sun is born every day, making the people of this territory people of the Don land. Tribes historically local to this area would be Sokoke, Abenaki, Pakumtuk, Nipmuk, Mohican, and Nanatuk tribes. Sokoke means the people who go their own way and the Sokoke are still here. They are a state recognized tribe in southern Vermont. Pakumtuk is a Mohican Pakumtuk word that would translate roughly to people of a narrow swift river or a swift clear stream. The Pakumtuk were absorbed into their kin tribes of Mohican, Abenaki, and Nipmuk peoples. Nipmuk means people of the freshwater and their state recognized tribe in Massachusetts with a small reservation of land that has never been seeded or out of tribal hands. Nanatuk means the oxbow part of the Punituk River and the local tribes have also absorbed the Nanatuk. Mohican translates to people of the waters that are never still referencing the Hudson River. War, genocide, dispossession, and colonization that pressed the Nanatuk and Pakumtuk to seek refuge with their neighboring kin also pushed the Mohican Stockbridge in Muncie West in the late 1700s through 1800s to Wisconsin where they have a reservation today on Manamani territory. The Mohican tribe also has an office in Lamestown and lands in Troy, New York to maintain local cultural ties. We are in the watershed of the Punituk River or Connecticut River and Punituk means Long Tidal River and this river has known several names by many different groups of people along its flowing path but Punituk was kind of stuck. So it's important to remember that while indigenous communities have lived, gathered, hunted, and farmed, fished in this area for thousands of years they are still here not metaphorically but physically still here. So please get to know the indigenous people of your area and ask what you can do to lift and raise their voices to honor and respect their sovereignty. So in that spirit I have three action items. First recognize and make changes to the dominant narrative that glorifies colonization and genocide of indigenous peoples of this area. Please be mindful that problematic terms like Pioneer Valley are a reminder of the legacy of dispossession removal and subsequent erasure. Second, please consider supporting any one of the artists and their movements that are represented here today. We will post a resource list in the toolkit after the event so please be looking out for that. And lastly there are currently five bills in the state house that six tribes in Massachusetts support that address removing racist mascots in public schools, changing Columbus Day to Indigenous People's Day, a bill respecting cultural heritage, another to create appropriate educational curricula in our schools on Massachusetts tribes, and one to create a permanent commission to ensure the education of Native youth in the state. So please contact your local legislator through MAindigenousagenda.org and encourage them to support these bills. So thank you again for listening and welcome to the living presence of our history part five, a conversation with Indigenous and ally artists for social, racial, and environmental change. The living presence conversation features an incredible panel of Indigenous artists and allies that are creating art to bring contemporariness, awareness, and recognition to current struggles in Native communities across Turtle Island. So, but before we get too far, first I want to express my entire heart and gratitude to Stacy Klein and Carlos Uriona and the entire ensemble at Double H Theater for creating this essential relationship with Okateo and really, yeah, big kudos. Thank you. And, you know, for this space, this space to lift and center safely, lift and center Indigenous voices, I think that is so important and I am so grateful. Thank you. So this work of lifting contemporary Native art in mainstream society in public spaces and museums has been decades in the making and we are still pushing hard. Native American art is generally regulated, relegated to the past and even defined in like these rigid boxes that are labeled with stereotypes and Pan-Indian tropes that deem them legitimate. So, local museum rooms that have their art shown and dedicated to American art is completely devoid of Native American art unless we count that Frederick Remington painting of the Scout with the curator title, friend or foe. I don't think that we really should count that. I feel like Okateo sees this struggle and that we're dedicated to lifting Indigenous artisans as we feel it is vital that we collectively bring awareness of our contemporaneous to the larger mainstream in a decolonizing platform for public art and a strong recognition of social justice and equity for our marginalized communities. So our Native communities have a lot of incredible artists. I could be filling the panel for the next 10 years, right? So when I talked to people about finding artists for the panel, I was introduced to so many incredible people who actively push the boundaries with their art and there are so many genres to cover and so many artists to live. But I really want to say that I specifically curated this panel to reflect a very select group of artists. I am incredibly excited for this panel as each artist representing here today, whether they know it or not, is part of my daily life. From Bon Quixote, Isaac Murdoch wearing his image on t-shirts or backpatches, on my jacket, the standing rock, to having stickers, carrying his work to marches in DC, to Jessica Thornton's work being illuminated on buildings and bank row in green fields and banner drops with her artwork. These are the banners over Interstate 91, overpass last fall to bring awareness to that struggle, to Sarah Whalen Lund's image on t-shirts and backpatches and, you know, on the back of my traditional atika look, you know, to Nayana's portrait of my daughter, Nayana, hanging on that wall of fame as you go up the stairs. So I see her artwork every day. So these are the incredible artists who have freely given their time and their talents to disrupt colonization and invisibility. And I'm honored to introduce them to you. And I'll be asking each panelist to take a few minutes to answer a quick question as I go along to kind of get to know them and get to know their work. So let's get started with you, Nayana. Nayana the fund has been an artist her entire life. She had her first exhibition at the age of 14 in Edinburgh, Scotland. That's amazing. And has been exhibiting her work worldwide since. Nayana is primarily a painter, but also works in mixed media and photography. Her work handles deeply personal subjects such as medical issues related to her fight with leukemia, domestic violence, and topics of identity and culture. Nayana is a member of the Anashinaabe First Nation from Wic-Mekho. I apologize. Thank you. I didn't practice first. I apologize. Unceded Territory in Ontario and Abenaki and Meghama from Three Rivers in Quebec. Nayana resides in Western Massachusetts with her daughter. And her current painting series MMIWG, Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls, painting project, will soon be on tour through the Emerson Center for Art and Culture with dates and locations all over North America starting next year. Nayana, thank you and welcome. I'm so happy to have you here on the panel. My question for you is your process is so unique. And I've watched Nayana on Facebook Live. It's insane. I've been in awe how you take this black canvas and produce like such realism by adding light. Can you talk quickly about how you bring these portraits to life by using a black canvas? Sure. I'm an art school dropout. I went for black and white film photography and I dropped out just after September 11th when the economy tanked and decided to focus on painting and brought the black and white into it. So I am self-taught. I developed a method that just made sense to my brain, which was prime and black. And then I only am actually painting the light. So I don't actually paint the darkness at all. So the shadows emerge through process of elimination, through building the light. And so as I build the light up, the shadows come through. So it's a process I just kind of made up as I went and it worked. And I work very quickly. I do a lot of them over live stream and it takes me anywhere from two hours to 10 hours for a portrait depending on how complex it is. I remember that you once said on a live stream that you start with the eyes. I always start with the eyes for the simple matter that they're recessed in the bed and they're further back. So if you paint them after you've painted the skin around the eyes, they'll be bugging out. We don't like that. That's not a fun look. I like the eyes. They are just, they're right there. And there's a lot of pressure on those. If you don't get those right, then it doesn't look like the person. Isaac Murdoch is from Serpent River First Nation and is from the Fish Clan. He grew up on the land and was raised a hunting, gathering, and fishing lifestyle. His passion is Ojibwe pictography and traditional star knowledge. You'll often find him telling stories by the fire. Isaac has four beautiful children and currently resides at Nimki Ajibikong. Can you tell us a little about Nimki Ajibikong and the work that you do there? Yes, of course. I want to thank you for being here. I live at Nimki Ajibikong, which means Thunder Mountain. My name is the man who paints the rocks, but I have an honorary name from the people of my village, Bomb Gijik, which was named after a medicine man that lived a long time ago. We took land back where I come from because when I was small, the Indian agents came and took us and they took this from our lands. So we moved back to our territory and we started to build a village there. And they call it crown land, but we don't recognize it as that. This is Shkakmakwe. This is the earth. And we recognize that we are an indigenous species in this forest here. So we returned home. We went back home. And this camp is all about the revitalization of language, of land-based activities, of indigenous knowledge systems and healthcare systems, of traditional governance. And we've somehow gotten away with it. And I think partly because of the prayers and the offerings from the elders. And so we have seven houses here. We have a language school and a cultural arts center kind of built into one where we focus on the revitalization of our language, but also arts. And so just like during the speaker, the first speaker that we had, he said that there is no word for art in our language. And that's so true because there's really no difference between art and ceremony in our Nishnabe Atsuen and how we think in our Kandikendamon. There is no difference between how we view art and ceremony. And we call what I'm looking on the wall, Masnibye Ganan, is what I'm looking at. It's a very sacred thing. And so that's who I am. And thank you for letting me be here. I don't really consider myself an artist. I do tell a few stories and stuff, but I'm just looking at this work and I'm trying to hide. It's so gorgeous. I can't believe how incredible that work is. And a shout out to my neighbor from Kumakong. So I'm just living right across from you. So it's good to be here. Miigwech, thank you. Yeah, thank you. Miigwech, Koyanaka to you too. You know, I feel like Okateo, we have kind of the same vision where I think once you said land and water being teachers for our children and we're kind of, we're hoping to create something if we can get a fraction of what you've accomplished, we're going to be happy. Next, I'm going to go to Sarah Whalenlund, who works as an Inupiaq artist and mother of three girls. Sarah's intention with her work is to give voice to indigenous feminine experience as she knows it. Sarah pushes herself in her art to talk about the harder subjects of abuse, mental and emotional trauma and activism while trying to address the beauty of our everyday experiences. Sarah's work is her way of processing the world around her and trying to break down the walls so that her children may not have to climb them. She questions, what does it mean to be an indigenous woman? What does that connection with past and future look like? Sarah works in large-scale painting with block prints, illustrations and specializes in traditional Inuit tattooing as a means of reclamation and cultural connection to Sarah's family and community to address these issues. Welcome, Sarah. I'm so happy you're here. You were also a part of the documentary Tupik, which followed the journey of women in Alaska, Greenland and Canada to reclaim ceremonial tattoos. And you know, it's powerful. I have a picture of my namesake, my Anna Alak, with beautiful chin tattooing. And I always knew growing up that I would one day be worthy of wearing these similar marks. And it should be said that this kind of tattoo is not for non-native consumption. Some of our art is ceremonial and it's private. It belongs to our communities, our families and our individuals. But I keep coming back to the questions you have in your bio. Like what does it look like to be a modern indigenous woman? And what does that connection with past and future look like? And I'm sure that you found some answers in reclaiming these traditional ceremonies that are practiced by our ancestors for thousands of years. Could you take a few moments and share your experiences of deepening your ancestral relationship and how that's informed you as a contemporary indigenous woman? Of the lautic. I'm so honored to be here. My name is Sarah Waylon-Lon. To get right to the question, you know, you'd think I had found some answers, but I don't know that I have. It's such, it's more than that when you're talking about traditional tattooing and you're talking about making those connections with the other people in your community, you're building that family up, you know? All of a sudden your whole community of women becomes family. And we share that through our communal markings. So there's a lot of healing that can happen and a lot of, you know, and sorry if I'm a little disjointed in my thinking and the way that I'm getting my words out, but everybody who comes in, they all come in for similar but different reasons and everybody who's looking to reconnect in that way, they all have their own stories and their own reasons for doing so. And really, it's about reclaiming who we are, showing what the face of what Inuit people look like now, which as we all know, we're all over the world. We're in all shades. We don't all look the same and being able to address that and reclaim that part of who we are for the whole world to see. You know, it's a bold step. It's when we started this journey, at least here in Alaska, with the traditional tattooing, there were maybe three, three women in the state who had their traditional tattoos, you know, and now we're just walking around everywhere. And everybody, at least here in Alaska, most people know what it is. They don't know what it is, but they know that it means that we're Inuit and there's respect that's being built again in who we are, not only our own respect for ourselves, right, because a lot of us growing up have felt a lot of hurt and a lot of shame in one way or another, a lot of pain and abuse. And this is that way of taking back control of how we present ourselves and taking back control of who we see ourselves as and who we allow other people to see us as, if that makes sense. Totally makes sense. Thank you. And I honestly believe like through your art and revival of this ceremony, because when you participate in ceremony, you become a relative with that person. You're creating stronger generations and Koyanapak for that. Thank you very much. It's beautiful. Next, but not last for sure, Jessica Thornton. She, her say them, is an artist and community organizer living in Atna and Deneana lands in Palmer, Alaska. She was born in Abul, Finland and raised in Haushan, the Netherlands. Her work is inspired by her Finnish heritage, social and environmental and environmental justice movements, Arctic flora and fauna and the unseen beautiful connections we have to the places that we call home. She is passionate about the role in art narrative strategies and social justice movements and works in various mediums, including lino print, screen print, letter press, pen and ink and digital art. She is the arts in action coordinator for Native movement, which is a statewide indigenous led organization dedicated to supporting grassroots led projects, focused on building people power rooted in indigenous worldview towards a healthy, sustainable and just communities for all. Jessica's work is guided by the Hema's principles for democratic organizing and she is also guided by the values and principles of the defend the sacred Alaska. While being a so-called self-taught artist, she recognizes the contributions of a lineage of artists and teachers who have influenced her work. She is committed to the lifelong and multi-generational work of dismantling white supremacy, colonialism, capitalism and all systems that oppress our communities. Her work and art are also guided by our visions for a just transition and our collective liberation. Welcome, Jessica. Thank you for being here and I want to quote you. You once said, I truly believe that everyone is an artist and is capable of creating something that can help heal our world. Can you please take a few minutes and expand on that comment? Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so deeply humbled and honored to be here today. Yeah, I do believe that everyone is an artist. I think we create through many ways. We create through music. We create through the words we speak. We create through, we create every day in our own ways. And I, an important part of the work I do in my art practice is to share the importance and the power that art has in creating change for all of us. And so I think even if you can just draw a line, you're an artist and you can create something powerful. Yeah, I don't know what else to add to that. That's beautiful and it reminds me of a children's book that my daughter had growing up and it was called The Dot. It was about a little girl who didn't think she could draw and she jabbed a dot onto a piece of paper and her teacher, her art teacher was like, that's beautiful and hung it up on the wall with this swirly gold frame and it just empowered her to explore The Dot. And so you're right. Everyone, if you can draw a line, you're an artist. If you can speak beautifully, yes, art happens every day. Thank you for bringing that. One movement that genuinely showed how collective action could heal the world was Standing Rock, right? The No Dappel movement. This movement created an unprecedented unification of tribal nations within the United States and Canada and indigenous people worldwide, non-native people, multiple religious organizations, and it gained mainstream media coverage. Bum Gizek, the Thunderbird woman that Isaac Drew became an easily identifiable image that was just synonymous with the movement, right? Bum Gizek, how did a Thunderbird woman come to you and how do you feel about this? I don't know, she's kind of like taken on this life. How do you feel about this life she's taken on? Well, I think it was, I don't know because what happened was, it just happened by accident. And I just started to think about things. And I started to think about all of our moms and aunties that fought so hard during all of the different struggles in the past. And I started to think about all of them that were there. And so I wanted to commemorate not only my mother but others who were always on the front lines and were always there and being the backbone of our movements and also being front and center. And so I felt that it was important to try to create an image that showed the beautiful strength and not just the strength but the magic that our moms carry. And so this story is about a woman who is half Thunderbird and half human and she's a super superhero, environmental superhero that's come here to help save the earth. And believe it or not, she floated around and for a couple of years before Standing Rock. And I wasn't on Facebook. I didn't even know what a Facebook was. I was in the bush. I had no idea. I didn't even have a phone. I didn't trust them. But somebody said, you have to get that image out there and you just have to believe me. And so I said, I feel dumb putting things on the computer because I don't know nothing about them. And so it was put onto the computer and the next thing you know, it just scattered all over the world very quickly. And so that was my introduction to it. And I feel like somehow, just like everything, when I created Thunderbird Woman, I feasted. I feasted her. I made a food offering to her and I thought about all of our moms that we lost and all of our grandmas and all of our daughters and aunties and I thought, you know, I want to feast them. And because they're always met with violence and they're always met with shenanigans. So I thought it would be good to feast them. And so I feasted Thunderbird Woman. And I think it made a difference to do that. And so then I noticed that she started to just do her work all over. I've always told everybody that my art is for them. And to use my art and just use it if it's to protect the lands and waters, to raise money if you can for the lands and waters, not to spite me, because it's not about me. And to just go for it. And having that freedom for people to use the art and not even just native people, but for everybody, white people, everything, black people all over us that just use it and just go with it. And I don't want nothing from it because it's not about me. And so that's what happened. So the next thing you know, it was just all over the place. And that's what happened. Beautiful happening. It's like she came to life, right? She told you it's a ceremonial process and you brought her to life. And thank you for that. It's really become unifying. That's true artistry, by the way. And I believe in what you were saying about Indigenous women, we're reclaiming matriarchy. And that image of Thunderbird woman is that representation. And I also believe that the connection between murdered and missing Indigenous women, girls and true spirit and the extractive industry is intertwined. Three out of four native women suffer from sexual assault and are missing and murdered at higher rates in any other race on this continent. The oil drilling pipelines, the uranium mines, they all contribute to these statistics through the man camps and the human trafficking that they incur. But we're also affected, right? Because we're daughters of this mother earth, right? And as the earth is disrespected, raped, abused, and marginalized, so are the women of this earth, right? So what happens to our earth can also befall our women. And Isaac is also saying, you know, this Thunderbird woman was yours in the making, you know, and the same with this movement, long before Me Too and the Times Up and the Black Dress movement, we had our own walking with our sister's movement. We had our own murdered and missing Indigenous women movement. We had our own red dress project. That's why I wear a red dress every time we have a panel, is I'm honoring our women. So there are two artists today that are bringing attention to this movement through their work. Sarah, you have an incredibly famous image that's pretty much known worldwide right now to bring awareness to murdered and missing Indigenous women. And it's up here, right behind me, right there. I painted that for a murdered and missing Indigenous women march. So you have created also another incredible image that tie a woman's body with the treatment of land, waters, and fish. And that's the one over there. Defend the sacred. The woman in the salmon. The first time I saw that, it just pretty much had new tears the first time that I saw her. I had this visceral reaction to seeing that there's a woman and she's in the fish. I don't know if you can see it in the audience, but she's tied. She's tied by a red band. It could be the fish, the heart vein. It could be other things, but tied around the neck and around her feet. And I had this double reaction to it. We are tied to our waters and our land and all the animals, but we are also being abused in a way. Can you tell us a bit about why and how both of those images of women came to you and what are their meanings behind these images for you? You hit the nail right on the head for me. The women in the fish, I sat for a long time. It was maybe three years ago. In Alaska, we have some of the worst rates of abuse, murder, rape against Indigenous women in the world. In 2018, 2019, a woman here was picked up, told that she was going to be brought somewhere and instead she was left strangled and masturbated on on the side of the road and the judge let the perpetrator, who happened to be a white male off, let him out, saying that it wasn't, didn't constitute a sexual crime. And at the same time, a little girl in one of our villages was missing and she was found also sexually abused and murdered. And just the constant realization of how our women are looked at at the same time as everybody's for basics like clean water. At the same time, everybody's fighting to keep pipelines from going through that are detrimental to our grounds and our animals' natural habitats. And the only thing I could do, the only thing I could think of was this image just over and over and over again. And it's actually, it's called, we are not an expendable resource. And it's the idea that, you know, the way the rest of the world treats us. If we don't have a monetary value to them, then get out of the way, right? So it's kind of hard, gets kind of hard for me to talk about, but the other side of that being that the way that we look at ourselves and the way that we walk through the world, you know, more as one, we all breathe the same air, we're all, you know, living in the same world and our connection with nature, water, animals, and tying ourselves to that really the way that the western world has tied us in the same way that they look at us as an expendable resource and the way that we tie ourselves in trying to honor ourselves and trying to honor everything around us. So that's about that piece. The red hand image is another one. You know, I say that the work that I do tends to be my way of processing everything around me and it's really true. Most of the time I don't have a lot of words for it. That image came to me shortly before an AFN Alaska Federation of Natives meeting in 2019. I knew that Native movement and Defend the Sacred were going to be having a large gathering like they usually do in recognition of the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women and I knew I wasn't going to be able to be there and I again, I had this image floating around in my mind. I kind of think about it as you know, people trying to talk to me, ancestors trying to work through me to get their story out more than just my work, right? It's stuff that flows through me more or less and that's how that that image came across. I wanted to send something that I thought would be impactful, something that I thought that people could resonate with in this image that I was able to resonate with when it came to me. So really, it just feels like these things are more processing through me rather than me doing them or just my work if that answers. That totally answers and something I wanted to say is when I first saw that handprint image, there's a little spot above the woman's face and immediately, I took that to mean a very spiritual aspect in that those are our ancestors go up into the sky and look down on us as star people or stars and I like I immediately like I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it is that those women that are gone are looking down at us and I don't know, I don't know how many people actually like know the significance of that but it's just beautiful and thank you for that image. Thank you. Neanna circling to you. Gosh, I became familiar with Neanna's work about 15 years ago. Now, maybe more. We met about 17 years ago when I had my daughter Neanna, which there was no connection there, but it's a pretty cool connection nonetheless. So I followed your like poignant work all the way through when you had leukemia and once again, you know, really enthralled with your work when you were doing the COVID quarantine mask series and you did my Neanna just one of the first ones that you did my Neanna and you did your your series, your COVID series that also honored the healthcare industry nurses during the COVID time. But your latest project, which is surrounding us right now, is your portrait in red series. You once said about that series, this project is a labor of love. It has found me an inspired emission of raising awareness and honoring the memory of those lost. I hope it helps those still here to heal, even if only a very small amount. Can you please tell us if you can? What was the beginning catalyst for the portraits in red series and how that came to you and maybe the catharsis that the series has become for yourself and others? That's a hard topic. If you don't know, I'm okay. I just want to get too deep in it, but it started because all my work has been therapeutic and catharsis of some level. The medical work was to process all of that and my work that I did before then, I'm only now able to actually tell people what it was about and it ties into this project because the work I did before was kind of covert work to deal with my own personal experiences with domestic violence. And nobody really knows what it was about at the time, but this is pretty directly about that. And it started, I had been doing the work on hospital things in May 5th, 2020 came around and I was getting bored with it and I was quarantined and I went on to Social Distance Powwow, which is a group online, and a woman named Lorena Bear from Saskatchewan shared a photo where she'd done everything and I thought, I'll just do one, like a one-off, I'll see if she'll let me. And she said yes. And I painted it and shared it to the group and the response was so overwhelming. I said, maybe I'll do one more. And I did a portrait of a mother and daughter and really had a good conversation with them. Her daughter was adopted. My daughter's adopted. We had this really nice bonding moment and they started pushing me, you should do more, you should do more. So I said, well, it's really helping me. It's kind of cathartic. I've never been very good at verbally expressing how these things affected me, but it's really nice to do it visually. That's how I kind of get it out. So I put almost an open call, just a post on the group and said anybody who sends me theirs, I'll paint yours because I'm bored and I have nothing to do. And this feels good. And I'm home and it's, you know, nothing to do. And in the first day, I got 25 with stories and photos. And then I said, well, I guess I'm not going to say no to some and yes to others and that would be wrong. So I'll paint all of them. And then people just kept sending me them. So I kept painting them. And then people started asking for prints. And I said, oh, cred, you know, like, I don't actually want to profit from this, this would be really wrong to profit from. And this isn't about me. It's it started about processing my emotions and it turned into about everybody else. So I now give free prints to the families or the sitters. The most I've given so far was 22 to the family of cozy decor who is murdered when she was 22. I exhibit the paintings for free. I ship them around. I do it out of my own pocket as a mom. And I give everybody free prints. And I'm doing it as a labor of love for catharsis. Now the smallest one up there. That's case Sarah. She's number 60. And I finished her last night. So I've done 60 since my fifth 2020. And I'm still going because I always have at least 20 in my queue. And I'm just keeping doing it something that Sarah said really struck home because I feel very much like it's not me anymore. If you look at the work that I produced previous to this project, just skill level as an objective observer, it's significantly different. It's doesn't even look like my other work. I was never a portrait painter per se. I didn't even think I could really do realism to the level that I'm now doing it. It's directly a result of some sort of sense of influence of some other kind. Because I go into almost like a trance and then the paintings done in my hand moves crazy fast and it's done. So I feel like I was assigned to this project and I just better do it. You're going to do this and I'm just like, okay. So that's how it started. And now it's just running and I'm just trying to keep up with it. You do amazing work. And I follow her on Facebook, of course, and everything that she's done is just amazing and cozy. That was an incredible story. Yeah. Cosy's family allows me to share her story. So I will very briefly, a lot of people don't, which I honor that. Cosy was 22. Her body was found dismembered in an outhouse that was lit on fire next to an abandoned house where her fiancee and youngest child were asleep. He was charged with manslaughter on Indian territory and the children were given to his family. Her family had to fight and protest for the charges to be raised to murder, which was clearly murder. That's not manslaughter. And so her portrait I painted a few weeks after she was murdered. And a few others were similar timing where their families would contact me days after. So there's a print of Willow over there, which is the girl with the red handkerchief around her. And her body was found May 5th, 2021, which is the day I remember so they found her. She was 17. And that was the fourth member of her family that I've painted so far. Thank you for the work that you do, Neanna. Really? Just need to take a breath for a second. That's really... No, don't apologize. Never apologize. Never. Okay. I'm going to go to you. I definitely feel... I just read your book. The Trail of Nanapushu. It's a wonderful collection of native stories. And I just... I love the way you write. And you have me laughing so much. So I feel like this is a good way to lift the mood right now in the room because you're talking about Nanapushu. And you said, he looks real deadly and buckskin. And I died. I thought that was hilarious. I wonder what Nanapushu would be wearing today with all the incredible artists and clothing that you can buy. He would be like real deadly, right? He'd be wearing Thunderbird Star Woman. That's what he'd be wearing. For sure. But in your book, you also disperse traditional teachings and more recent stories. And here we go back down again, such as this horrifying story of a child that was stolen from his family and stripped of his culture and died in a residential school. And then his body was taken from his family and buried in an unmarked grave at the residential school. Some background for the viewer is that when governments could no longer openly support intentional genocide, cultural genocide was employed. And children were taken from families and sent to boarding in residential schools all across Canada and the United States with the intention of removing all traces of culture. What the quote was to kill the Indian and save the man. And many children were never returned. There were 139 Indian residential schools in Canada and over 350 Indian boarding schools in the United States. The Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Report into residential schools in Canada claimed that 3213 children died. However, since June of this year, June 2021, only 11 school grounds in Canada and nine in the United States have been searched for unmarked graves. And there have been 6128 children's bodies found. Let that sink in. You're powerfully moving artwork, Isaac. To bring awareness to this horrific tragedy is so peaceful and so full of innocence and love. Can you talk to us a little bit about when this image came to you and if it brought about healing for yourself from intergenerational trauma of residential schools? Yeah, you know, when I was a young child, we were a free people on our lands. We had our own government. We had our own language. We had our own economy. Our own sustainable way of life. We had our own laws. And we were a free people. And we were known as the Indian problem, which was people that were living exactly where they wanted the resource extraction to take place. And so it was very important for them to remove us from the forest, get us onto the North Shore of Lake Huron onto the reserve so that there could be a free for all and resource extraction in our homelands. And of course, as a result of that, we were taken away by Indian agents. And so my daughter's eight years old, and she's the first generation in my bloodline that has not been taken away by Indian agents in the name of resource extraction in over 120 years. And so we know that the apprehension of Indigenous children was to, of course, colonize the children, reduce their numbers, and of course, force them into institutions so that they would never go back to the land again and interfere with resource extraction. And as a result, thousands and thousands of Indigenous children have died as a result of that, those removal programs. And I remember when I was younger, during the apprehension, at my place, my mother was crying. The RCMP were restraining her. The Indian agents had rubber gloves, and they also had bags, I'm not too sure why, but we were carried into a van. And during the chaos and the screaming and all of that, the crying and all of that stuff, they sped away, but they didn't realize that my little brother Francis was hiding underneath the van. And they had run them over and he survived, but his hair fell out, and he's been on disability ever since, and he still has the mind of a little child. And since then, my mother has, in order to get us back, she had to get her tubes tied. So she wasn't allowed to get us back unless she had that procedure done. And then, of course, even after she got it done, there was a lot of problems with trying to get us back. And she ended up committing suicide. And I think about the intergenerational effects caused by the residential schools. And this goes back a long time. I think about the children that were taken and that never returned home. And so, of course, as a storyteller and as somebody, as historian, this was very close and dear to my heart because this is also my life story, too. And so being able to create those images to help bring awareness and truth to the forefront was a priority for me. I remember my grandfather. We used to have these residential school reunions, and sometimes I'd be asked to go there to be a keynote speaker. And my grandfather would never go. I'd say, let's go. And he'd start crying. He'd say, I can't go. And he was old. He was like almost 90. And he would start crying. And so finally, one day he said, let's go. And we went to the residential school because it was still up. And we took a stone from that building. And we took a pillar, a wooden pillar that was hand carved. And we took that back with us. And he made a sacred pipe out of it. And he made a pipe out of that residential school. He said, they took everything from us. But we can take it all back. He says, even the children that are buried here will take them back, too. We're going to take everything back. And we talked and he prayed lots as he made that pipe. And then we went back to that school. And he was an old man. We sat there. We smoked that pipe in front of that school. And all he did was cry. And then after he was done, he filled the pipe up again. And he buried it for all the children that are still there. And he says, one day they're all going to come home every last one of them. And I believe that. We just didn't survive a genocide. We just didn't survive the intergenerational trauma. But we actually became a very strong people and a very united people. And these little children have united us. And now we're becoming a force of nature because they're with us and they're making us like that. And with every action, with every prayer, with every piece of art, with every story, with every song, with every tattoo, with it all comes change. And we have to remember that despite the fact that these things happen to us, we're still here. We're still speaking our language. We're still taking land back. We're still painting our paintings, singing our songs. And we're getting stronger and stronger and we're multiplying like rabbits. Great, great, great change. Great change is coming. And so, you know, even, you know, these are hard conversations, but there's hope. So during this time, let's build each other up. And let's remain united and keep pushing forward. Because that's what the young people would want. That's what those children would want. And you know what? That's what we're doing. And so I'm very proud of our people at this time. You know, we're going to get them back. We're going to get them back. No, Jimmy Glitch. Hey, me great. Thank you for sharing. So that brings me to Larry. Larry, you also wrote a short play that you performed this summer here at Double Edge Freedom in Season. And that was a story of your family dealing with stolen generations. Would you talk about that? Yes, yes. But I first want to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all for being here. I'm really moved in many different ways and directions this evening. So many things I want to say. As caring and traveling with the crow, I have that talking spirit, so I'm careful to limit that because I have so many questions myself. And I am humbled and honored to have you all here who have created these images and symbols that so many of us of this generation are able to come together, connect, make changes on a very grand level to shift consciousness, to bring people from all walks of life involved. Yeah, it means so much not only to this generation, but to the world and future generations to come. I've been doing this work all my adult life. And when I was blessed and gifted to be able to give up alcohol at the age of 21 before I was near death, and as we were talking about in one of our circles yesterday about the Creator has put us on these missions. And we've all, and as I'm hearing the theme of the trauma that all of us here have went through, it is sadly unfortunate those traumas that bring us to be able to do this and just kind of get it back out there to the world and kind of saying the FU to the trauma. And we're going to change this partly why I spent these decades working with youth on sobriety and all my books are geared in different things of that nature. So it's such an honor to be with you all. And I want also people to think about there's a secondary equally important narrative and gift that's going on here that people should recognize about that idea that Isaac was talking about in Sarah and Diane about that gift giving it away. It's always very important to think about that. And as Stacy mentioned in the beginning, we think about art in the Western world and like who gives their stuff away, right? And so and where we come from that that is like a big ceremony is that giveaway. And so that's that's that healing part of it. And here over here on the East, we were always taught that if you're making a basket or vase or warm, you always give your first one away. That's what the elders tell us because it probably didn't look that good. Just kidding. But seriously, you always you're about giving things away. And I remember I met and I on a few years back before the pandemic at our Nekomo winter solstice ceremony and she came with gifts and apple butter. And that was just we're just laughing about the little that I know. She had more talents in making apple butter. It's like just really amazing. It was such a treat. So yeah, I want to briefly talk about this play I worked on. I've been a writer for many years and a traditional storyteller, singer and poet. I've never done any playwriting or theater work. And people think about if you're a traditional storyteller, well, you should be able to go and act into a play. And it's really not the same, especially when the when the content is personal. And so and it was actually really, really humbling too because Stacey the director of double edge theater and she listened to me night after night for the years that we've been close friends and talk about at the table how my ancestors were taken. And she began to tell me mention that. Well, why don't you put this play together, you know, and write about it. I don't know anything about writing plays. I write books. And so I began. So I thought about this as you know, yeah, this is going to be another another forum to kind of like reach people. So maybe I can do this. And, you know, I like talking and things like that. So. And so I began that process and I was it was a very moving process to do that because the content was that, you know, I was discussing my great great grandfather, who was a union civil war soldier. And this is in the story has layers, right. And so part of that first layer was that the untold story of indigenous people in the military, which is not talked about whereas native people are the highest enlisted in the US military in all of history. In other words, per ratio of their race, they're going into serving this country more than anybody else. And there's many reasons for that that I wrote about some time ago in Indian country today, but that's another topic. But putting that aside, so I wanted to talk about that untold story of the Nipmuc men of that time from this Massachusetts here, who served. And I knew about my grandfather and a few other close relatives. And my cousin Bernie, who's one of our family historians. And so I did this research as I was working on the play and it turns out there were 36 of my close relatives were fighting at that time. And I, it was overwhelming the documentation and there's so many stories that still need to be told about that. And it was just really moving that so you know, you can go into some of these local little towns and see these statues of all these people you never see in the Indians there, but they were there, you know, and so I wanted to be able to tell that story. And the second piece of that is in particular, my grandfather Samuel Vickers was there. So while he was there fighting, his land gets usurped by the state because he says they say he's in debt and they take his children away, you know, so he's fighting for the country and having his children taken. And so I wanted to really bring that story, some attention because we talk about this generation of trauma and it's real. And my family, we had three generations of kids taken and the last person that was taken was my grandfather's oldest brother, Arthur. And that's my cousin Bernie, who I'd mentioned, that's his grandfather. And I said, what did he say about it? He never talked about it. And we actually were able to record my great aunt, Emma, before she passed. We did this video of her about eight years ago about what it was like seeing her brother and she talks about this handsome boy coming down the road with his bag over his shoulder. He's about 20 years old and she just kind of cried and dropped to her knees and she knew right away that was her brother despite not seeing him for all those years. And so I wanted to do this play, kind of bringing that bringing attention to that. And it kind of brings me back to that day because it was a very emotional time to be putting that together. And then going and performing it and I say performing it loosely because when I put on the Civil War uniform, I don't even know where I was. I mean, as you are as you understand what I'm talking about, it was like, I was just there, man. And it was just really, you know, it's surreal just to go back and think about that. And I may be doing that again. And it's a very sensitive thing to do. And I feel like like thinking about it right now, I can't get there again, because that's a place that was just really a scary place. And there's a place that I was blessed to like walk through this portal to be there in 1863 and be him. And not like Larry Spadecro disappeared. And I was my grandfather and all those things that he went through and receiving the letter that back home that your kids are being taken. And so, yeah. And it was just just really, really moving to be able to bring that. And, you know, and as we say here about this fundamental shift that we're all doing with our work, because we had these spaces now because we had these opportunities and and I was sharing with some elders yesterday and it kind of goes back to what I was saying yesterday about the work that you are all doing. It's very important we're like that our youth, our young ones are coming up and being able to benefit from this and being able to have that freedom to join because you know, we had a big crisis here of suicide for a while and it's getting better as it were, I would say, you know, from some some of the work that we're trying to accomplish. But, you know, and it's all goes back to the trauma, the abuse and neglect of our women. And so this work is ongoing. And I know there's a lot of people out there listening who are probably, you know, they're jarred to the core. And that's good, especially if you're not from our communities, because we want you to get involved and try to understand that and give this space much like we had here to kind of address these issues because it's not going to be easy. Asking someone to come and read a land acknowledgement or or sending money somewhere, it's going to take a lot more work than that. Yeah, it took centuries to do this. And then as Isaac pointed out, he really gave me a lot of inspiration. I feel good, because you know, sometimes we feel alone, right? And because it's hard work, man. And, you know, we're going to keep on populating. I did my job, I made four of them. Maybe I'll try a few more. So it's scary. It's scary to them, right? It's scary. You know, that's why you're seeing all this insanity out there. Right, Anthony, that's why they're getting crazy. Because oh my God, these Indians, you know, we had the most powerful empire in human history, throw everything we had at them. And they're still drumming, they're still speaking their language, they're still going to powwows. And, you know, they're creating beauty that we can't even compare to. And they're giving it away too. What's wrong with them? Don't they want our money? So it's it's it's blowing their mind. They don't know what to do with us. And so I'm humbled to be a part of this, you know, and I'm getting on that elder status now. So that's why I say, youth, please, what you know, we're asking this is for you now. So it's, you know, we're, we're handing it off. So again, I want to just express my gratitude for all of you and in better days, we'll be able to hug and do it the way we're supposed to as indigenous people. Thank you for sharing, Larry. I also wanted to point out that residential schools and boarding schools, Indian boarding schools are not really part of ancient past. The last schools were closed in 1990s. So it's a fairly recent closing. I'm sure everyone here in this room was alive in the 1990s. So, you know, my, my grandmother was the last of her generation. She went to second grade and then stopped. And then my grandfather was in a Klootna Indian school until he was 16. And it was a traumatic experience for him. And we're still dealing with that intergenerational trauma today. And we have been talking about, you know, making beautiful art and making it accessible. And that sort of ceremony that healing. And Jessica, thank you so much for being so patient. And, you know, being on this panel today, I really feel that you have an incredible voice to talk about your experience as a non-native person working for indigenous organizations. You've been making incredible, beautiful art. I met you at the Northern Organizers Summit in Fairbanks a couple of years ago. And I was just blown away. I was so nerded out when I found out that was you who made these beautiful images of Defend the Sacred Alaska. I was like, what? That's you? Do you remember that? I was like, no way. So, can you please talk about the work that you do as an ally, your work with art in action, with Native movement, and your decision really to make your work open and accessible for actions? Yeah, definitely. And I remember that, Rhonda, and it's so awesome to be here with you in this space. And thank you for the invitation again. And I do want to sort of talk about that circle design a little bit. Because in a similar vein, as what has been mentioned before, like I, with that image, while my hands did draw that, the actual image was created around a table with many people around that table. And so, it doesn't belong to me. And I gifted that to the movement a long time ago. And so, yeah, I just wanted to mention that. And a lot of my process is collaborative. So, I feel very awkward sometimes when people just identify it with me as a person because it isn't. The reason why these images might have any power is because of the work being done, the Indigenous work being done behind it. And that's what gives it power and symbolism. And so, it really, it belongs to that work. And I got to this, the work that I currently do, I think almost, I moved to Alaska in 2015. I was 24 years old. And I've lived in many places in my life. And it's always been really important to me to understand the history of the places where I live. That's how I have always connected to all of the many places that I have called home. Very early on, I came across a group called a grassroots organizing group. And I should say also, I come to this work first as a community organizer. And the art came later because I realized that I could offer support in that way. So, it's only been recently, the past two couple of years that I've even been calling myself an artist. But I guess trying to keep it sort of short, I became connected with the Indigenous movements here first as, through my work with the local grassroots group called Alaska Rising Tide. And if you're unfamiliar with the Rising Tide grassroots network, it's sort of like a decentralized network of chapters all across the world. And the mission is to confront the root causes of climate change. And our analysis, I don't know if it's shared by all of the chapters, but particularly for our group was that the root causes of the crises that we face are due to colonization, white supremacy, patriarchy, and capitalism. And so I became very involved in that work. And we did a lot of trainings on nonviolent direct action. We created zines, bringing together stories around the climate justice movement in Alaska. We organized banner drops and other artistic actions to raise awareness about these issues. And then in 2017, the Arctic Council was holding their ministerial meetings in Fairbanks during the change of chairmanship. They were changing from Finland to the United States. And our like scrappy little group was invited to Fairbanks to support a number of organizations led by Native Movement and the Gwich and Steering Committee who were organizing around climate justice. And we got together and made agreements for how we were going to work together. And that week of actions, like that circle design, that was the design we used. It was only supposed to live for a week. And those collaborations and those relationships later turned into something beautiful in the Defend the Sacred Alaska movement. And so that's how I came to this work. And now I work as the Arts and Action Coordinator for Native Movement. And my focus now is not to be the one creating art. I think my real focus has turned to like building capacity, doing work to share skills on, you know, skills like screen printing and printmaking and line-up printing and like how those skills can be used to elevate voices in our community and how people can use those tools themselves to elevate their own voices. And, you know, really focusing on building capacity and pushing other organizations to include artists, particularly indigenous artists, and how to do that in a good way and, you know, to pay artists, to support artists. So that's sort of where I'm at right now in the work that I'm focused on doing. Thank you. I appreciate your work. And as you can see, like on the Defend Alaska, Defend the Sacred Alaska website, it teaches you how to use your art. So, you know, I was able to, these are the banners are not actually Jessica's work, but they taught you how to, you know, be able to project the image and create the image so that you can use it for events. And so I did use these, you know, for events to bring awareness. And I thank you so much. And it's really great to hear the origin stories of the circle design. It's beautiful. I think, you know, I guess I'm kind of like going back and forth. We're starting to get a little bit tight on our time. So I might have to like shift some of my questions. But we, I feel like I can't really skip this question because it's super important. So Sarah, I'm going to just go to you very quickly. If you could take just a minute or two, just to explain, we've we have been talking about making sure that your artwork is available and it's free to use. But there's a flip side to that story. And I think it's very important to hear Sarah's point of view on what has happened with her image. Because I think there is a lesson here that's to be learned. Sarah, can you her her image of the handprint was essentially lifted stolen worldwide? Can you speak to how this feels and what has happened? I think at first it just feels and, you know, I think most artists, a lot of artists out there have experienced this, but it's hard. It's hard to have something that you put out into the world with so much meaning, with so much heart, you know, then be ripped off on places like Amazon. And, you know, like factories all over the world all of a sudden taking it and producing it, not knowing any of the meaning other people claiming it as theirs. And I was not expecting it to become such a such a known symbol for this movement. But the and I'm glad I'm glad that, you know, in in this piece of works way, like she's out there living her life, sharing, sharing this this movement with people, raising awareness, bringing some sort of comfort, like that's what I meant it for. But yeah, I really have had to come to my own terms with that. But I don't I don't know how else to describe it other than very difficult, you know, it's a difficult mental and emotional process to go through. I'm glad that I'm glad that, like I said, it's out there living and working and doing what I hoped it would do, which is resonate with people and raise awareness. That's what I made it for. But, you know, your soul just sinks a little bit when you start seeing it on Amazon and glittery decals and and it's it's a little defeating at first, I think until until you are able to kind of shift your perspective a little bit, you know, there's it's definitely meant to be shared, meant to give some comfort to so many of us who have lost someone. But there's a gross side to the Western commerce world that is really just taken advantage of it. So I don't really know what else to say about that. I think you nailed it. I mean, there's there needs to be respect, respecting the artist, respecting the life of the image. I think that in going forward to making sure that there is that respect. Thank you for sharing that. I think it's important to hear. Bumki shake. You have said in the past that Canada must listen to Indigenous people, not just when they're protesting or blockading. And you've said how we're going to win is by people working together and actually getting on the land and building sustainable economies with their bare hands. And you've often hashtagged revolution of the heart. And I feel that this revolution is critical to affecting change. Can you please define for us the revolution of the heart and how creating relationships together and working on the land will affect change? Well, I think it's very understandable to understand and know that we have to live on these lands together. The settlers and their descendants are not going away. They're not going to pack up and move to Europe or Spain or wherever they come from. They're here and some of them have been here for for many, many generations. And so we have to learn how to live together. I think that Indigenous people have been extremely generous, patient, tolerant, amazing, incredible, resilient, superpower-like. And I've always told Canadians that they're always asking, what can we do to help you? And I always say, don't help me, help you. You need to fix Canada. It's not our job to fix Canada. You need to fix Canada. You and your people need to fix Canada because we all live here and within the spirit and intent of these natural laws that are here, that means that we have to work together. You have your job and your roles and responsibilities to make sure that you're living compatibly with the earth. We have our natural laws as well that guide us and steward us and that it's very important that we work together to understand how that's going to happen. You know, I come from a warrior family. I can't think of a generation that never, never somehow went to battle to protect the lands and waters. My family was always in our armed conflict, going back seven, eight, nine generations from what I can tell from our family history. But this is different. This is some consumerism and capitalism. The fossil fuel industry is not something that you can kill with a bow and arrow because we already tried. And the world global market is being run by corporations and this is a different type of enemy. It's a different type of soldier. And so I believe that it's through the heart and it's through building beautiful that we're able to change this. So instead of being against pipelines, I'm for rivers. Instead of being against racism, I'm for diversity. Instead of being against a nuclear waste plant, I'm for flowers. And so, you know, most of my life, I was always pitted up against something, fighting something, whether it's, you know, blockading roads, you know, facing militarized police, you know, you know, taking over buildings. You name it. I've done it. But, you know, I, but my daughter, you know, what she taught me was that when you're for something, it becomes more powerful than being against something. And so, for example, more people are going to want to be for a river than they are going to be against the pipeline. More people are going to want to be for water than against a nuclear waste plant. And this invites every demographic, every nation, every person to be involved and to be a part of it. And it just doesn't become an Indian fight anymore. It becomes a love everything by everyone activity. And that's what revolution of the heart is, because if the problems of the world are greed and hate and anger and misery and death, then I think it's the opposite that's the remedy, which is love, kindness, sharing, compassion, empathy, you know, all of those things. And so, I believe in that. And that's what revolution of the heart is about. You know, I also understand that in the spectrum of change that there is so many different parts and that I only represent one little spot on that spectrum. But I think it has a place just like others do. And so, revolution of the heart is about spreading kindness and love to the world, because we just have to love everything again. You know, and as leaders, as indigenous people, you know, these are, we have a special connection to these lands and waters. And so by loving everything, we can actually become the changers on how society looks and views the natural world and themselves. And that's what I see when I look at all of this art. And that's what I see with all of our people is that they're really, they're just, love is the driving force. It isn't anger. Yes, we're pissed off. Of course, I'm pissed off. I want to throw my truck. I want to pick up my house and throw it sometimes. But it's hearts. That's all I do with all my art is just draw hearts. There's hearts in there everywhere. Because, you know, the, I want my daughter to have a more beautiful world. She deserves that. And so as a dad, I'm going to try and make that possible by, by just making hearts for her. And so thank you for listening. Thank you very much. Thank you for sharing that, because I think it's important that we understand that, you know, we are stronger together, right? I have like a bajillion questions and we're really running out of time. But I want to ask Leona one question. And Jessica, I really think it's important again, for you to talk about how we can work together. You once had a post and you said, on this Earth Day, let's all, let's remember that there is no justice for our Earth without justice for our people, all people. Our liberation is tied to each other. Our activism has to be intersectional or we won't ever find the piece that our hearts long for. So today I'm checking in with myself. What more can and should I be doing to dismantle the systems that I benefit from every day? Am I doing enough to advance racial justice, decolonization, anti-capitalism? There's always more work to do. And one of the things that I'm hoping that you can touch on quickly and it's not, it's not easy to do quickly. But can you please talk about the HEMIS principles for democratic organizing and those values that guide you on how to be a good ally? Yeah. I'm like, wow, I don't know how you found that post. Gosh. I first want to say that I firmly believe we all have a role to play and we have to play that role. And allyship or like the journey to being an accomplice, I believe is not something, it's not like an end destination we ever reach. It takes constant, you have to tend to that. You have to constantly check in with like, am I upholding the agreements that I've made? Am I doing, am I playing my part in a good way? And so I think the HEMIS principles for democratic organizing and the values or the principles that we've agreed to as Defend the Sacred Alaska, having those types of agreements are really important because they provide some sort of compass where you can constantly go back and check yourself. Like, am I, whenever I have an opportunity that comes my way, I go back and I look at it and I'm like, am I upholding these promises I've made? And so just to summarize the HEMIS principles for democratic organizing are six principles that were created by activists who came together in 1996 in the town of HEMIS in New Mexico. And this group of people, it was indigenous people, activists, people of color and white European activists. And they came to these six principles in order to form like an agreement for how they were going to work together in a good way. These agreements include things like be inclusive, let people speak for themselves, be committed to self-translation. And I can't remember them all off the top of my head, but I have this sheet of the HEMIS principles posted on my wall. And so it's something that you always have to, it's a relationship that you always have to tend to. So I think that's all I can think of to say right now. No, that's great. Thank you so much. I think it's very important to hear, especially when we're talking about activism and how to be a good ally and accomplice. Again, I am like crossing off all these questions I have for everyone and trying to make sure that everybody has spare time. But I think what I would like to do is go back to Neanna. And Neanna, you have an incredible following at this point in thousands of people online, right? And like your ascension has been incredible. How has it been like watching your artwork take off in that way? And do you have any advice for young Indigenous artists? Surreal. I painted one of a little fuck steep rock and I went to bed and I woke up the next morning and I received a message from the admin of the group where I shared it with a screenshot that it had been reshared and reacted to over 60,000 times without advertising it, which was a little like, I don't quite know if that's real, but somebody just pranked me. It's been cathartic just to know that the voice is being louder. That's been really nice for me because through my own process of processing my own trauma and I have my own intergenerational trauma as well. My grandmother was also taken and so were her siblings and two never came home. Through processing all of that, hearing everybody else's stories, seeing it get out there, receiving messages every day and that has helped me a lot and it's spurred me on and made me feel like, okay, it's being heard. It's getting out there and those who affected me are also seeing it, which has been cathartic. And it's been a very healing process for me even though it's overwhelming and a lot of the things, it's been a lot of seed planting because a lot of the things that are going to happen haven't even happened yet. So I bought a planner. It's been a little crazy, but it's been cathartic as well and just seeing it everywhere is a little weird and surreal. It's amazing. Any advice for young Indigenous artists out there? Speak from the heart. Do it for the right reasons and just put it out there. I'm hearing that. Because the more it's put out there, the louder the voices are and the more our presence is heard. Even if you don't think it's very good, do it anyway. Right? The dot. Yes, the dot. The dot matters. Wow. Yeah, I'm hearing that from all of our panelists, right? So this work is coming from their heart. Any last thoughts? Sarah, do you have any last thoughts that we can take with us today? I'm putting you on the spotty. I think just echoing what was just said, just working from the heart, I have three girls that I'm bringing up and everything that I do is to try and make everything better for them. So the revolution of the heart really resonated with me and the advice to young artists also just working from the heart and following your intuition in your work. That's a lot of that. I feel like we're being guided and when we don't listen to that, we're not listening to those who came before us. Yeah, that's beautiful. That's so true, right? I'm Gijic. Do you have any final words? I just want to thank everybody here. I just admire everybody's work and dedication and vision. Years ago, my grandmother told me that our Atsu Kanan, our stories are very sacred to us and that these stories hang above us at nighttime. They're in the stars. They're all over the lands. They're in the pictographs, they're in the trees and the waters and that right now we're also in a very sacred story of when the two-legged are trying to destroy the earth and that we're characters in this very sacred story right now and this story will be told thousands of years from now and guess who they're going to be talking about? They're going to be talking about us and it's really amazing and it feels good to know that our people are strong and that we're rising to the occasion. We're in a time that's never seen the likes of human beings ever before. So I thank all of you for your good medicine, for your hearts, for your good work because it's making a difference. It's making a difference for the little ones and so with that I just want to say thank you so much. It's been a great honor and you know many blessings and prayers to all of you and your families at this time. Nahao, Chimigwetch, thank you. Thank you. Wow. We need to be like walking away from this, understanding we need to be building up grass movements to disrupt this ongoing colonization, reclaiming identity, respecting our Mother Earth who gives of herself and provides for us. We need to protect our our life-giving resources such as water. We need to give voice to the voiceless, right? Indigenous people should just not be inclusive but should always lead these movements. We have a right to represent ourselves as we see ourselves. We have a right to be seen and to be heard and this movement is now, right? We had a talk yesterday, each moment is a sacred moment. It will never happen again. We have to be present in this moment. So Kulia Nakpak, thank you for listening. Kulia Nakpak, Nalak Nakisi, thank you for listening and many thanks to our incredible panelists for sharing today and sharing some really hard things about, you know, their their story. Thank you for listening to that because that's always a first step. So let's give it up for our panelists please. And I can't believe it but I'm actually going to stop on time and I didn't think I would a half an hour ago. So thank you so much, Larry. Do you have anything that you'd like to say? Once again, I thank you all for listening. I want to thank the panel. Thank you all so much. It's been such an honor. We hope to have you all as Neon and she's here and she's here so we get to see her a lot with all the recipe out to Okitayo Cultural Center. And so again it's just so many thoughts where I'm going to leave here with today and again at the bottom. Thank you all. Appreciate it from the heart. Thank you, Sarah and Jessica coming in from Alaska, my home state representing too. So I feel I feel a little bit more at home today. So thank you. Thank you. I think that's it. I'll send an email later. Okay.