INDIGENOUS WISDOMKEEPER
PORTRAIT PROJECT
"KUUYUX"
ALASKAN UNANGAN WISDOMKEEPER
60" x 48"
"MYSTIC BABA"
INDIAN HIMALAYAN
48" x 48"
PORTRAITS, AN UNFINISHED FACE:
My style of portraits may appear "unfinished;" it is the very intentional and symbolic yielding of the mystery that these Wisdomkeepers hold. They have one foot in our commonly seen collective reality, and another in wisdom realms that cannot be put into form or ever considered complete. Therefore, an accurate portrait would indeed include the very nature of their being; the formless wisdom that supersedes all form. In addition, the "unfinished" face also represents hope in humanity. We are not finished individually or collectively, and although we have taken a certain path until this point in humanity, we are being presented with numerous uncertainties + opportunities to embrace and pivot. Simply, we, and our journey, are never complete.
In honor of the sacred lineages that have protected wisdom cultures in the face of so much harm from colonization, genocide, and assimilation, I portrait Indigenous Wisdomkeepers. I work directly with the elders, to listen deeply and build relationship. Accompanied with recording their wisdom stories and experiences in an audio format, the large scale portrait becomes a shared belonging: together, we strategize how the visual and audio art can best serve the initiatives of their people and Indigenous reclamation efforts via exhibition, fundraising modality, public engagement, etc.
"DOÑA MARIA"
ANDEAN Q'ERO ALTO MESAYOQ
48" x 48"
"CHIHOLLOLI"
72" x 48"
OTHER WORKS
"JOHN LENNON"
ARTIST STATEMENT
I explore who we may be in a greater context beyond our cultural identity and limitations through a renaissance of portraiture, with a focus on Indigenous Wisdomkeepers; as an evoking mirror to our own interrelational remembrance and becoming, while creating a historical visual documentation of some of our most revered multi-cultural and cosmological lineage holders. I record their wisdom personally and craft audio-visual exhibition experiences as immersive sensory-visualization transportations into the guiding cognition of an extraordinarily interconnected consciousness of an Indigenous Wisdomkeeper, and inclusively open public accessibility beyond socio-economical barriers to catalyze awareness of our intrinsic belonging that seeds personal evolution and global resolution. I re-invent newer conceptualizations and experiences of art as anthropology; allowing for the cultural wisdom and ways of the Wisdomkeepers to be known beyond logical faculties and into energetic transmission and somatic perceptions of a greater interconnected reality, while also creating art as activism methods for reconciliation and reciprocation of portrait revenue and involvement with the cultural preservation and regeneration of these wisdom lineages. I paint and live in the wild, on the edges of societal frameworks, to explore and embody the art of musing the greater perceptual narratives of this wondrously interwoven existence, bringing into shareable exhibit experiences for others and to sow fertile intentions for our future generations.