Juneau, Alaska (KINY) – A dedication ceremony for Kootéeyaa Deiyí (Totem Pole Trail) was held Saturday afternoon at the Sealaska Heritage Plaza.

       12 of 30 totem poles that make up Kootéeyaa Deiyí have been raised along Juneau’s waterfront.

The poles were carved by Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian artists.

The ceremony also celebrated the unveiling of “Faces of Alaska,” a new installation of five, 4-foot bronze masks that represent the diversity of the Alaska Native cultures.

The masks represent the cultures of the Iñupiat, Yup’ik, Alutiiq, and Athabascan people, along with a combined mask for the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples.

The Tlingit Culture, Language, and Literacy program at Harborview Elementary opened the ceremony with a dance of young and old.

Gaawt’ak.aan (In the Lee of the North Wind) Dancers from Hoonah also performed.

Sealaska Heritage Institute President Rosita Kaaháni Worl delivered a powerful message.

“Those children who are speaking our culture, speaking our language, who are dancing on our land, they are going to assure us that we are going to be here for another 17,000 years,” she said. “Gunalchéesh to the clans and tribes whose crests and masks are represented here. And to the master artists, who created these iconic works that will stand among the greatest art collection of the world. We are making Juneau the Northwest Coast art capital of the world.”

Worl commented that the artists spent more than six months creating the poles after being commissioned by Sealaska Heritage Institute.

She remarked that the totem poles weren’t traditionally raised due to their position on the waterfront, and thanked Dawson Construction for their help.

Many master Alaska Native artists and leaders gave speeches at the event, calling Kootéeyaa Deiyí a “revolution” and a “new era”.

The common theme repeated was that by reviving their culture through traditional art, they will continue to serve their children for generations.

The totem poles will tell a story of cultural revival and identity.

“The master apprenticeship relationship is our culture. It’s what’s created our 10,000+ year line of language, arts, tradition. Thank you Master Carvers for bringing your apprentices under your wings, teaching them your knowledge. Anybody who carries our knowledge forward-our weavers, our language speakers, our singers, our dancers, our uncles who take their nephew fishing and hunting, our aunties who take their nieces berry picking,” Anthony Mallott, President and CEO of Sealaska said. “Keeping our people on our lands, keeping us whole in our relationship with our lands. The carvers and apprentices are celebrated today, but all of you are celebrated for moving our culture forward.”

“We’re gonna extend our best to each other with kindness, love. Understanding that these totem poles have been in the works for the last, yes, probably six months, but what’s behind them has been in the works for the last 17,000 years. And it’s all rooted in this place, and we are still here,” Joe Nelson, the chair for Sealaska Board of Directors said.

Above: Anthony Mallott speaks. Below: Joe Nelson speaks. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)

“Our Northwest Coast art was almost extinct a time,” Fran Houston, cultural Leader of the A’akw Kwáan, said while recognizing the L’eeneidí Pole. “All of this will bring us together. Support each other; love one another.”

Following the opening dance performance, Southeast Alaska Native Veterans walked the Posting of Colors.

American Indian and Alaska Native people serve in the US Armed Services at a higher rate than any other group.

Above: Alaska Native veterans are recognized. Below: Eagle, Wooshkeetaan present Yéik’ Utee/imitating the spirits. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)

Below: Yeilnaawú Joe Zuboff (Raven, Deisheetaan) presents Yéik’ Utee/imitating the spirits. When a Yéik’ Utee/imitating the spirits ceremony is done, it must have balance, which is why both Eagles and Ravens participate. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)

Clans have special relationships with the spirits represented in their crests. They also have special spirits that are called upon to provide protection. Spirits are called through clan songs and through dancers. Dancers imitate the animal represented in a shakee.át while dancing behind a blanket.

As they performed their prayer dance, light rain, and strong wind would rise and fade; eagles and ravens could be heard crying out, and a sudden burst of ravens shot overhead. Eagle feathers were collected for good luck.

Above: Kaax̱ḵaatuklag̱é Ken Grant sings a song as Ben Coronell performs a thanking of the spirits of the trees ceremony. Below: Twitchell speaks behind the flames. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)

Below: People held their hands up in prayer. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)

“We believe everything has a spirit, even the trees,” SHI President Worl said. “So we thank the spirits of the trees and feed them.”

They acknowledge and thank the spirits of the cedar trees for allowing their use in the carving of the totem poles.

“Our ancestors are looking down and smiling,” Grant said, with an eagle’s whistle heard in the distance.

“What was unlawfully and illegally taken from us, we’re legally buying back,” X̲’unei Lance Twitchell, a Professor of Alaska Native Languages at the University of Alaska Southeast said. “We’re just going to buy it all back. Mendenhall and Gastineau, we are coming for you next…It belongs to our grandchildren; it’s a place for them.”

Tlingit & Haida Central Council President Richard Chalyee Éesh Peterson echoed that sentiment, using T&H’s most recent purchase of the Driftwood Lodge property in the old Juneau Indian Village as an example.

“The languages, art, the foods we eat, the dances, and regalia, are important,” Peterson said. “I see the prejudice changing.”

Above: Peterson and Twitchell hug after Peterson recognizes Twitchell for his role in preserving the Tlingit language. Below: Twitchell and Worl stand side by side. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)

U.S. Representative Mary Sattler Peltola, the first Alaska Native person in Congress, attended the ceremony.

Twitchell introduced her after noting how important representation is.

Peltola shared a message the late David Katzeek taught her children.

“You are precious; you belong here,” she called out to the hundreds of people watching and listening.

Above: U.S. Representative Mary Sattler Peltola received a warm welcome from the huge crowd. Below: Deputy Mayor Maria Gladziszewski and City Manager Rorie Watt stand with SHI President Worl. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)

The City and Borough of Juneau and Sealaska Heritage Institute successfully worked together to make the vision of Kootéeyaa Deiyí a reality.

“First, I proposed 20 totem poles,” Worl said. “Rorie walked up and down the waterfront, and asked me, could we do 30?”

Also during the ceremony, Worl raised a proposal of changing Seward Street’s name to Heritage Way.

Below: Gladziszewski holds Worl’s street name change proposal. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)

Deputy Mayor Maria Gladziszewski spoke at the ceremony.

“I’m honored to be part of this historic event and represent the mayor and the entire Juneau Assembly. As you know, we’re here today in Heritage Square to dedicate the first 12 of SHI’s Kootéeyaa Deiyí lining our waterfront. These poles have been carved throughout southeast Alaska and the City and Borough of Juneau is privileged to be part of this monumental project,” Gladziszewski said. “There are many parts to be played in a project such as this. None of us in the assembly could carve a totem pole or cast a bronze mask. But we can play a small part with our votes of support that enabled city staff to work with SHI on this project. CBJ’s Parks and Recreation, Docks and Harbors, and the Administration Department have been working together with SHI for many months. SHI and CBJ share the goal of making Juneau the Northwest Coast art capital of the world.”

Below: Photos from the dances. (Photo credit Jasz Garrett/KINY)

The Department of Public Transformation (DoPT) has announced the 2023 Cohort of the Ignite Rural Artist Residency. Ignite Rural uplifts rural arts and cultural workers as invaluable contributors to increasing community connection. 8 artists were selected for the 2023 Cohort, which is in its second year of operation, led by the Ignite Rural Program Director Holly Doll, Anpao Win (First Light Woman). Ignite Rural artists will receive a $4,000 creative fund, an additional $6,000 living stipend, and access to an $800 artistic development/wellness fund, along with six months of cohort model professional and artistic development support through workshops, in-person gatherings, and digital learning exchanges. This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

DoPT sees a future where rural communities across the country acknowledge, support, and integrate art and artists as vital contributors to economic, community, civic, and social life. Ignite Rural Program Director Holly Doll, Anpao Win (First Light Woman) says: “All 8 artists are in the early stages of their artistic careers and I’m honored to be part of the process that supports them in their journeys! The artists are all so talented with unique approaches and goals. I’m excited to see what unfolds over the coming months!” The artists and DoPT leadership are preparing to meet at an in-person artist retreat on April 29-30, 2023, and will ultimately wrap up their residency with a final art showcase on September 23, 2023 at The YES! House in Granite Falls, MN. DoPT invites you to get to know the new 2023 Ignite Rural Cohort below:

Rocky Casillas Aguirre

Rocky is an emerging, Latinx and LGBTQ artist originally from Tijuana. His comics and creative efforts aim to create safe spaces to talk about mental health and to empower young people everywhere, especially kids of color and LGBTQ2IA+ identities, in recognizing their true potential and living authentically.

Omani Luger

Omani is a self-taught illustrator of Lakota and Northern Tutchone descent. Inspired by film and comics, she’s on a journey to find her place as a multi-media sequential storyteller.

Lynne M. Colombe

Lynne M. Colombe is a digital storyteller, documentarian, and writer from the Sicangu Lakota (Rosebud Sioux) Reservation. Lynne aims to create space for digital storytelling by Native peoples and build content platforms.

Leticia (Gonzales) Snow

Born and raised in the desert southwest of New Mexico, Leticia is the Assistant Library Supervisor at the Saint Peter Public Library in Saint Peter, Minnesota, overseeing teen and young adult programming. Leticia plans to further develop her writing and publishing skills and will facilitate a youth-centered project that incorporates culture with a focus on community engagement.

Leah Xiuzhen Rathe

Leah was adopted from China and raised in the US. Many of her previous projects have covered topics such as gender equality and the criminal justice system and she has begun diving into her own identity as a transracial adoptee. Leah plans to create projects to help other transracial adoptees feel represented and seen. She is very passionate about the impact of art and aims to create with meaning and intention.

Esmarie Cariaga

Esmarie Cariaga-Whiteman is a self-taught artist based in Vermilion, South Dakota and a citizen of the Isanti Dakota people of Santee, Nebraska. Esmarie is a fashion illustrator who enjoys creating pieces reflecting contemporary fashions, while mixing them with Dakota contour. She wants to see more indigenous representation in the fashion industry and wants to create ways to uplift and support her community through fashion.

Cecily Rose Engelhart

Cecily Rose Engelhart (Ihanktonwan Dakota & Oglala Lakota) is a Master Certified Life Coach and Indigenous arts practitioner. Cecily is interested in creating functional, everyday-use items that incorporate cultural imagery, personal stories, and historical contexts. She has big visions for a contemporary re-emergence of parfleche purses in a range of styles and functions.

Alixena Patnaude

Alixena is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and lives on the Turtle Mountain Reservation. An avid beadwork artist, she is interested in learning diverse art forms, particularly quillwork, and creating pieces that represent her culture and heritage.

Please visit the Ignite Rural homepage for more information on the program, artists, and DoPT: www.publictransformation.org/igniterural

About Ignite Rural:

Ignite Rural is an “at-home” artist residency focused on uplifting and supporting emerging rural artists that engage in social/civic work. To be considered for the program, artists must reside in rural communities with a population of 20,000 or less within the colonial state borders of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and the 23 Native Nations that share that geography, with priority given to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) and Native artists and culture bearers. Ignite Rural 2023 operates as a 6-month cohort model to connect rural artists with each other, provides digital learning exchange opportunities, and supports rural artists in their social and civic work within their communities.

Ignite Rural is a program of Department of Public Transformation developed in partnership with Dakota Wicohan, Mni Sota Arts, and Racing Magpie. Ignite Rural is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and shaped by our Advisory Committee made up of artists, community organizers, and changemakers across Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota: Angela Zonunpari (Artist + Writer / Arts Midwest | South Dakota); Anne O’Keefe-Jackson (Artist + Advocate / DoPT Board Member | Minnesota); Dyana DeCoteau-Dyess (Artist | North Dakota); Eileen O’Keefe (Dakota Wicohan | Minnesota); Nancy X. Valentine (Artist / Kaddatz Galleries | Minnesota); Peter Strong (Racing Magpie | South Dakota).

About Department of Public Transformation (DoPT):

The Department of Public Transformation is an artist-led nonprofit organization that works to develop creative strategies for increased community connection, civic engagement, and equitable participation in rural places. More information at www.publictransformation.org.

Getting inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame seems simple enough — the five nominees who garner the most votes each year make the cut.

But deciding who to vote for is anything but simple, especially since there are usually three times as many nominees vying for those five induction spots.

More often than not, some of those nominees hail from distinctly different parts of the musical universe. Their impact and influence — two key criteria — can differ nearly as much.

Accordingly, this year’s ballot poses some intriguing and confounding choices. Here are five:

Kate Bush or Sheryl Crow?

Willie Nelson or Rage Against The Machine?

Soundgarden or White Stripes?

A Tribe Called Quest or George Michael?

Warren Zevon or The Spinners?

These are just some of this year’s potential match-ups facing the hall’s voting members, whose ranks have included me since the 1990s. Deciding who to cast your ballot for raises several vexing factors.

Is it better to vote with you heart, or with your mind? To let musical passions dictate your choices, or to use logic and careful consideration?

To further complicate matters, the calculus I use to determine a vote for any one artist may not apply to another. And when my instincts tell me a first-time nominee is a shoo-in for induction, I tend to not cast my ballot for them so that I can instead vote for a worthy underdog candidate.

That is why I have voted for Rage Against The Machine each of the previous four times they have been nominated (and will again this year). Ditto for Kate Bush, for each of the previous three times she has been nominated (and again this year).

It’s also why I have voted — albeit also without success — for “cosmic American music” visionary Gram Parsons, disco pioneers Chic and the incendiary Detroit band MC5 each time their respective names have appeared on the ballot (which in Parsons’ case last occurred in 2005).

To those who argue that Parsons and Chic are not “rock” artists, per se, I agree. But their influence is broad enough — and their contributions vital and enduring enough — that they deserve to be in a hall of fame, especially one that that in previous years has inducted Abba, Donna Summer, Journey and Bon Jovi.

Eight of this year’s contenders are first time nominees: Nelson, Crow, Michael, Zevon, White Stripes, Missy Elliott, Cyndi Lauper and Joy Division/New Order. Artist become eligible 25 years after the release of their first recording.

Several of the artists who are debuting on the 2023 ballot are very likely to be inducted, including Crow, Michael and the White Stripes, none of whom need (or will get) my vote.

Fans can cast their ballots online until April 28 at voterockhall.com/en/ — and millions have done so already. But be forewarned. All of the fan votes are tallied and submitted on a single ballot, alongside the other 1,000-plus ballots that are cast. Consequently, the millions of fan votes together will constitute about 0.1 percent of the total.

But enough about percentages! Here are the five 2023 nominees I plan to vote for.

Kate Bush — This one-of-a-kind English singer, songwriter and musical conceptualist counted the late Prince among her high-profile admirers. She has been a key influence on such varied artists as Tori Amos, Enya, Billie Eilish, Imogen Heap, Boy George and OutKast co-founder Big Boi, among others, and easily held her own duetting with Peter Gabriel on their 1986 gem “Don’t Give Up.”

The fact that Bush has not performed since 2014 — and has not toured since 1979 — only adds to the enigmatic allure of her singular music. What will probably cinch her induction this year is that her classic 1985 song, “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God),” topped the charts worldwide in 2022, after being featured in a key scene in the TV series “Stranger Things.” That visibility should sway voters who were less familiar with her in the past.

Willie Nelson — Still touring and recording at 89, this maverick American-music giant has more attitude in his little finger than many rock and hip-hop stars. By almost single-handedly creating the outlaw country movement in the early 1970s, he irrevocably changed the staid Nashville music machine, while giving it the middle finger at the same time.

Nelson has written and recorded more classic songs than any currently active solo artist not named Bob Dylan. In 1985, he co-founded FarmAid with Neil Young and John Mellencamp. Over the years, his collaborators have ranged from fellow 2023 Rock Hall nominee Sheryl Crow to Keith Richards and Snoop Dogg, who — like Nelson — launched a line of marijuana products in 2015. He’ll celebrate his 90th birthday with a pair of all-star Hollywood Bowl concerts April 29 and 30.

Rage Against The Machine — This explosive Los Angeles-bred quartet set an enduring standard for rap-metal and musical ferocity more than 30 years ago. It also set a new standard for socially and politically charged songs with snarling, take-no-prisoners lyrics that vividly expressed youthful anger and frustration.

Rage disbanded in 2000, then reunited in 2007 for four years, before disbanding again. Its return to the stage last year drew sold-out audiences and earned rave reviews, even after lead vocalist Zack de la Rocha sustained an on-stage leg injury that required him to perform seated for the remainder of the tour. A key influence on numerous bands — including Deftones, Against Me! and System of a Down — Rage continues to live up to its name.

A Tribe Called Quest — A major force in New York’s Afrocenteric Native Tongues movement of the late 1980s and beyond, A Tribe Called Quest has been enormously influential in the decades since then. Its ingenious blend of hip-hop, jazz, funk, alternative-rock and more created an enduring template.

Artists who cite this three-man group as a pivotal inspiration include Roots leader Questlove, Pharrell Williams, Kanye West, Nas and Dr. Dre, among others. Just how far-reaching this musical Tribe’s reach extends was underscored in the 2011 film documentary “Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest.” It was directed by actor Michael Rappaport, a longtime fan.

Warren Zevon — A long shot, or a shoo-in? This Chicago-born, Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter and band leader died from cancer in 2003. He scored only one Top 40 hit, 1978’s “Werewolves of London,” and remained a cult artist throughout his career.

But Zevon, who cut his teeth playing in the band of the Everly Brothers, made 15 albums and several are classics. He could be wry and acerbic, tender and poignant, the life of the party of the death of it. And he wrote a slew of outstanding songs that were covered by everyone from Linda Ronstadt (“Poor Poor Pitiful Me,” “Carmelita,” “Hasten Down the Wind”), Bob Dylan and Jerry Garcia (“Accidentally Like a Martyr”) and The Pretenders and Stevie Nicks (“Reconsider Me”) to Madeleine Peyroux (“Keep Me in Your Heart”), Meat Loaf and Hank Williams Jr. (“Lawyers, Guns and Money”) and Bruce Springsteen (the elegiac “My Ride’s Here”).

The 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ballot inside back page

(George Varga / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Who would you vote for?

Below are this year’s 14 nominees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Which one current nominee do you feel most deserves to be inducted, and why? Email your answers to George Varga at george.varga@sduniontribune.com, and and we will publish the best responses. Please include your name and where you live (not your address, but the city, town or neighborhood).

Kate Bush

Sheryl Crow

Missy Elliott

Iron Maiden

Joy Division/New Order

Cyndi Lauper

George Michael

Willie Nelson

Rage Against The Machine

Soundgarden

The Spinners

A Tribe Called Quest

The White Stripes

Warren Zevon

george.varga@sduniontribune.com

The Capital Region is taking over Nashville — musician Annie Scherer has advanced to the final four in Music City Mayhem, an emerging artists competition hosted by Nashville radio station Lightning 100.

The Voorheesville native, who moved to Nashville in October 2021, learned about the Music City Mayhem competition last year, and, this year, she decided to take a chance and submit, with few expectations. Scherer was one of 32 Nashville artists selected to compete in Music City Mayhem.

It took two years for Golga Oscar to finish a fur parka that appeared in a dream.

Two elders gave Oscar the long parka in the dream. It was made out of wolf and mink fur, materials traditionally worn by the Yup’ik people of Alaska. The bottom of the parka had black and white embroidery and the arms were lined with a black stripe, something Oscar had never seen before on a Yup’ik style parka. 

“The parka design was really elegant and beautiful,” Oscar, 25, said. “One of the very unique parkas that I never seen in my life.”

That parka will be one of the centerpieces of Fashion Week Minnesota’s Northern Lights Native Nations Fashion Night next Tuesday at the Machine Shop in Minneapolis. Fashion Week Minnesota kicks off Sunday and goes through Saturday, Apr. 29 with a different theme each day.

Oscar is headlining as the main Alaskan designer, along with two other Indigenous artists, in the Native Nations Fashion Night show. The show is dedicated to showcasing the lifeways of Yup’ik Alaskan and Great Lakes Woodlands Anishinaabeg cultures.

“What connects the three of us designers together are the Northern Lights, which happens in the wintertime and springtime,” said Delina White, Native apparel designer and organizer of the show. “It’s considered in the Native nations that those are our relatives.”

Oscar is a two-spirit artist from a small, rural village in western Alaska and is also a member of the Yup’ik Nation, an Indigenous group in west and southwest Alaska. Fashion Week Minnesota will be Oscar’s first fashion show outside of Alaska.

“I want to tell the world that the term Eskimo does isn’t doesn’t really define the majority of Alaskan Natives,” said Oscar. “My work represents Yup’ik culture and defines a specific tribe other than the term Eskimo.”

They are a self-taught artist specializing in sewing, beading, carving and basket weaving. Oscar’s work, which includes parkas, headdresses and mukluk boots, draws inspiration from archived photography collections of Yup’ik traditional clothing and books on cultural history.

“To have Oscar’s artwork and a piece of his traditional cultural arts in Minneapolis is really special, rare and unique because it doesn’t happen often,” said White. “His work is beautiful and such a distinctive art form.”

Oscar said art saved their life from “Western ideology and Western toxicity.” When Oscar’s not working on a new parka or headdress, they teach Yup’ik language and arts at a local school in their village with an emphasis on decolonizing Indigenous culture.

“I’m doing this for myself, my family and especially my community and my students,” said Oscar. “I want them to understand that pursuing artistry, pursuing your culture, pursuing your identity can bring you to many places and unveil a lot of hidden facts about your cultural identity, and the history behind it.”

Tickets for the Northern Lights fashion show start at $75 and are available at fashionweekmn.com.

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TAHLEQUAH – Indigenous artists of the past, and today’s artists, are helping mold the future, an expert on curating artwork told an audience during a recent event in the capital city of the country’s largest Native tribe.

Dr. Miranda Belarde-Lewis, assistant professor at the University of Washington and a curator, spoke during the 50th annual Symposium on the American Indian at Northeastern University.

“Relationality is something we have latched onto, how native communities continue to make our systems of knowledge visible,” she said.

Tribal relationships with the land, water, ceremonies and stories are the nouns in the vocabulary she used, resulting in the objects people can see in museums. The verbs are people’s actions — how indigenous people deliberately engage with the world, through their people, places and ideas. Proper curating of art work is imperative in reflecting indigenous people’s culture now and helping it create change in the future.

Belarde-Lewis showed the photo of a robe created by an artist in Sitka, AK. A school of herring, depicted in gold, swim across a burgundy background. The fish are plentiful on the back of the road, diminishing to a narrow group of fish and finally a single fish as they approach the wearer’s neck.

The robe was created to protest the path to extinction facing the herring because of overfishing.

“Commercial fishing — they just scoop up everything in their nets,” Belarde-Lewis said. “This is showing how the herring would swim everywhere, but now they are getting channel into this little area.”

The fish population has been depleted because of man’s activities — including pollution and overfishing. The robe depicts the situation in an effort to depict this depletion and encourage change.

Belarde-Lewis praised the work of several artists, including Cherokees Roy Boney Jr. and Jane Osti.

Boney has the skill to say things creatively on a regular basis with meaning in his Daily Sketches.

“Colonization is a system because it works every day. It doesn’t take a day off,” she said.

Osti, a renowned potter, creates clay vessels and paddles “showing how long our systems of technology are unique to us.” The pottery isn’t necessarily flashy but it depicts tradition and objects that have been useful to Cherokee cooks for centuries.

“All the people who Jane has worked with, who Jane is mentoring, they will continue that technology,” Belarde-Lewis said.

She also spoke of artist collectives, saying they were working toward a future where all indigenous creatures can thrive side by side.

Some people are put off by believing art musicians are snobby institutions not relevant to most people. But curating according to Belarde-Lewis’ philosophy encourages communication and discussing art as it is socially relevant.

“Sometimes it’s as simple as pulling up a chair and talking to people,” she said.

Among the contemporary curators she praised was America Meredith, a Cherokee and editor of First American Art magazine.

She and other renowned curators have the wealth of experience needed for cultural preservation, Belarde-Lewis said. They can walk into a gallery and tell if something just isn’t right. They can work correct the exhibit, to make it convey the message needed in today’s society.

“The artists are leading the way. The curators are holding it and the curators are presenting their work to our people and the world,” she said.

She quoted Dr. Jolene Rickard on how curating tribal art relates to sovereignty: “Sovereignty is the border that shifts indigenous experience from a victimized stance to a strategic one. The recognition of this puts brains in our heads and muscle in our bones.”

The curator’s knowledge and discretion are imperative, Belarde-Lewis said.

“The artists are leading the way. The curators are holding it and the curators are presenting their work to our people and the world,” she said.

“There are a lot of things that are out of our control, but our choices are our own.”

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