Audio accompanying the photographs of Kali Spitzer for the CCNA: Dene bāhī Naabaahii exhibition, featuring Kali and Demian DinéYazhi'. This exhibition is on view Mar 19 – Aug 28, 2016.

https://portlandartmuseum.org/exhibitions/ccna-dineyazhi-spitzer/ 

Transcript:

(...) My name is Melaw NaKehk'o. I am (...) Diné and Denesuline. My families come from the Willow River going up to the (...) area and from the old community (...) I am mother, I have three sons (...) I'm learning how to be a moose hide tanner. I am on this path, and finding out more and more about myself and more and more about my grandmothers. And, trying to find my place and completing the circle. Trying to find my place, and getting in line. With, getting into, into this line, into this continuum of knowledge that has been passed down through every single one of my grandmothers since the beginning of time that we have been the people here in (...). On this journey I have learned, and have become so much closer to my grandmothers. My Dine inheritance of their tools, and continuing to do work, doing work in the same methods, and technique as they would have done their hides. I missed out on this knowledge. There is a generational gap, of knowledge that has been missing. And so, to fill that gap and fill it with the, and to heal this one area, one area of time and to continue to work, so that these huge missing gaps of knowledge, we can heal those, heal those spaces. 



Melaw Nakehk'o

Audio accompanying the photographs of Kali Spitzer for the CCNA: Dene bāhī Naabaahii exhibition, featuring Kali and Demian DinéYazhi'. This exhibition is on view Mar 19 – Aug 28, 2016.

https://portlandartmuseum.org/exhibitions/ccna-dineyazhi-spitzer/ 

Transcript:

(...) My name is Tania Rose Larsson. My mother is Shirley First Larsson she was Gwich'in (...), born Aklavik on the Beaufort Sea in the Northwest Territories. My dad, Jan Larsson, was born in a small town in Sweden named (...). I was born and raised in France. From a young age my mom always taught me that I was Gwich'in. And when I was fifteen about to turn sixteen I decided that I wanted to move back to Canada and learn more about my heritage,  my culture, my land and people. It was quite a bold move as a teenager. To want to move across the world to learn more about herself. But, I think it was so important for me. And really has molded me as to the person I am today. Over the past ten years living in Yellowknife, I've built really strong relationships with other Indigenous peoples from the North.And I've learned so much by working on cultural revitalization projects. I've been able to spend time on the lands. Whether it be my friends' lands or my own tribal lands. And this connection to the land is so important when wanting to learn more about yourself and your culture. It was during one of these projects I was moose hide tanning with my friend Mila, and she told me about this school in Santa Fe, The Institute of American Indian Arts. So today I am studying, pursuing a Bachelors in Fine Arts at IAIA focusing in jewelry and digital. Most of my artwork is a reflection on my culture and I do lots of research, trying to find more information. I really like going into museums and looking at their collections to see the kind of work that we used to do. I think there's a great source of inspiration, when you get to look at what your ancestors did. And also a reflection on how our world is today and how we can bridge the gap between both. I've always embraced being from several cultures. My mom being Gwich'in and my dad being Swedish, and I was born in France. So, cultural diversity was the norm in our household. I had the privilege to see the deep love that my parents had for each other and I think this was a very important part of my upbringing. To be able to embrace both my cultures and realizing that this was a strength. Especially when I started to study colonization and its effects on Indigenous people of Canada. My mother went to residential school. And still to this day I realize some things came from that and the trauma and to heal from these horrific things that happen to our people. I think it's very important to forgive and, but at the same time fight for what was lost in the process. And that's what I wanted to spend my energy on. I can be hating a people because that's not going to bring me anywhere. And I knew that because I was both white and Native I just couldn't hate. Otherwise I'd be hating a part of myself which is not very good for a healing journey. But spending my energy on cultural revitalization and working on the land, and working with my hands in the material was, is, very important to me still to this day. And in that way I feel like I'm connecting to my ancestors and doing the same activities really reinforces my cultural confidence. And I think art is a great way to communicate these things, and embracing new technologies like we've always have, working in digital arts and being able to show my culture through that lens. To touch more people in the world, is very important. And I think that being mixed heritage is at my advantage. 



 

Tania Larsson

Audio accompanying the photographs of Kali Spitzer for the CCNA: Dene bāhī Naabaahii exhibition, featuring Kali and Demian DinéYazhi'. This exhibition is on view Mar 19 – Aug 28, 2016.

https://portlandartmuseum.org/exhibitions/ccna-dineyazhi-spitzer/

Transcript: 

My name is Sasha Louise LaPointe. I'm Cosalish from the Nooksack tribe on my mother's side. And on my biological father's side, I'm Scottish and Welsh. I'm from the Northwest part of Washington. My tribe is up near the Canadian border. And I grew up in that area. I grew up in Skagit Valley. My parents are Jill and John LaPointe, and they live on the Puyallup Indian Reservation, near Tacoma, Washington. And I am my great grandmother's namesake (...) I carry her name. What I do, I am a writer, a poet. I'm currently enrolled in the IAIA's MFA program, so I'm in graduate school working on my book, which is a memoir about growing up mixed heritage on the reservation and all the challenges that face, that I was faced with. I think because my great grandmother was a storyteller, and language and words were so important to her, I think that is why I've ended up where I'm at. I think that I inherited, I know that I inherited that gift from her. And I'm trying to apply that in a way that makes sense for me as a contemporary mixed heritage woman. Like how I can apply that in a productive way for my community. And I think that that's why I write about what I write about. I write about the challenges alcoholism, sexual assault,  abuse and, and what it means to survive that. I think for me a challenging experience that directly comes out of, of my identity as a mixed heritage person is, is ever being questioned. I think, in, in my life I've often heard to question what are you? And I don't think there's anything more hurtful or confusing to have someone, to have someone so bluntly question your entire identity based off your genetic makeup. You don't look Native American is something that I've heard. And in a way I think that that challenges my, my entire being and who I've grown up to be and the way I've grown up and the community I grew up in. Especially with what I'm writing about and sort of exploring my own story and how much that I survived and how much my mother and my grandmother my great grandmother survived and I think that in this small question of what are you that's almost like trying to take that away. And that's been a hard. That's been each time I have and confronted with that question. It's hurtful. And a little bit confusing. 
And I think that the important part of, of my identity is definitely the ability to draw strength from my history and, and my, my family and where I do come from. And in so many ways my great grandmother is such a guide for me in my work. And I think when I'm faced with those hard questions I really channel her. And I think that she, she gave me that gift. To sort of ground myself and to find strength to face these, these hard things. I don't think. I don't think that I have to question who I am anymore, and I've grown up a lot, questioning that. And one of the lessons she taught me is, is not to question and to know who you are. Her and my mother used to tell me a lot, you come from a long line of strength and that's how you are. And I feel that. And I carry that with me and sort of use it as a armor, and as a way to like move through this world as a survivor. 

 

Sasha LaPointe

Audio accompanying the photographs of Kali Spitzer for the CCNA: Dene bāhī Naabaahii exhibition, featuring Kali and Demian DinéYazhi'. This exhibition is on view Mar 19 – Aug 28, 2016.

https://portlandartmuseum.org/exhibitions/ccna-dineyazhi-spitzer/ 

Transcript:

My name is Eloise. I came to Canada as a small child with my parents from the United States. My parents came in the McCarthy Era after my father was jailed and blacklisted for being a Communist. My parents came, their families came, to the United States from Eastern Europe as Jews being persecuted. My father's family from Transylvania. And my mother's family from Poland. We settled in Canada and because of my parents' stories of the fabulous lawyers that my father had during the McCarthy Era, I went into law and began to advocate for women and for Indigenous people. Which took me to the North where I met my first husband, Kali's father. I'm the mother of the photographer. I faced some amount of persecution in my life, and some ill health and having but survived breast cancer. And when I think about myself, I often think about myself as strong and resilient. But I'm not sure that I see myself that way. Through Kali's incredible photographs, I come to see myself as strong and beautiful. And Kali my daughter has given me that gift, which is irreplaceable. And for that Kali, I thank you so much. 



Eloise Spitzer

Audio accompanying the photographs of Kali Spitzer for the CCNA: Dene bāhī Naabaahii exhibition, featuring Kali and Demian DinéYazhi'. This exhibition is on view Mar 19 – Aug 28, 2016.

https://portlandartmuseum.org/exhibitions/ccna-dineyazhi-spitzer/ 

Angel Mills

Audio accompanying the photographs of Kali Spitzer for the CCNA: Dene bāhī Naabaahii exhibition, featuring Kali and Demian DinéYazhi'. This exhibition is on view Mar 19 – Aug 28, 2016.

https://portlandartmuseum.org/exhibitions/ccna-dineyazhi-spitzer/ 

Transcript:

My name is Meredith Meiko Horiuchi. My parents are Wayne and Vera. And my dad is Japanese. He grew up in Japan and came over here when he was six. So, he's first generation. And my mom grew up in Tennessee and Ohio. And her family's been in Tennessee for a long time. They came over from Germany and from Scotland and Ireland, and kind of converged in Tennessee. My grandparents on my mother's side our Sibyl Moore and Wade McCluggage. And they met in Ohio, southern Ohio. And lived in a small town there, raised their family. My grandfather was a farmer for a long time. And my grandmother, she stayed at home she had, I think she went to school and she was in a choir. My father's parents are (...) and Kenji. He changed is name, my grandfather changed his name to Harry when he moved here. And named my dad his American name, Wayne, after John Wayne. They lived in (...) County, and then Kansas City, Kansas for a while. Also farmers and then my grandparents on my father's side also owned a Japanese deli for a while. So, my grandparents on my father's side were in Japan during the war, and both of my grandfathers fought in World War II. And I think when my parents first got together was surprising to both of their parents. And then me and my sister came along and, uh these little mixed race babies, didn't look anything like our mom. 
And, I had, let's see, I didn't come out until I was eighteen. And, I don't think I really thought much about the way that I identified racially or sexually during my time growing up. But my mom always sort of instilled in me, very subtly feminist ideology that I've kind of carried with me for a long, long time and in college, uh, when I started college, I came out and really started to understand who I was as a person and become empowered by it. And that was the first moments of my life that I really came back to who I was. Without judgment and without pressures of a misogynistic community and society. I was lucky enough to go to an all women's college, and surrounded by female bodied people and queers and really opened my world, for a long time. And I moved to Seattle and I found a whole bunch of people like me who wanted different things with their life and demanded different things from the world around them. So I sort of fell in the step with them and, I think that every part of that time in my life has given me strength to be who I am now. And the strength to just trust myself and trust the people around me and that's what these photographs represent to me is that inherent trust of people that you find family in. Kali is family, and I trust her. And when I sit for her, or take photographs with her, then I know that who I am is coming through the photographs. And that is a powerful thing to see yourself, truly, how you are in a photograph.

Meredith Meiko Horiuchi

*Hosted by Manuel Padilla, the Executive Director of Portland Meet Portland*

This is the first in a series of podcasts in collaboration with Portland Art Museum. In this series, Manuel talks with local immigrants and refugees from Portland, OR, exploring the continuum of life as a refugee and reflecting on the Common Ground exhibition by Fazal Sheikh.

In these first three episodes, Manuel talks to students in the RISE program at David Douglass High School. The students talk about their lives mirrored in the lives of refugees and displaced people taken by Fazal, as well as their lives outside of those photographs.

Episode 3 - Portland Meet Portland: Reflections on Common Ground

Episode 2 - Portland Meet Portland: Reflections on Common Ground

Episode 1 - Portland Meet Portland: Reflections on Common Ground

Manuel Padilla leads a conversation between Portland Meet Portland mentors and their mentees. They talk about their experiences from their youth and what it's like to live in Portland. The refugees also have a lot of thoughts about Fazal Sheikh's photos in the "Common Ground" exhibition at Portland Art Museum.

For more information about Common Ground, visit portlandartmuseum.org/exhibitions/common-ground

For more information about Portland Meet Portland, visit portlandmeetportland.org

To see where you can find Fazal Sheik's photographs near you, visit FazalSheikh.org

Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization - IRCO.org

Open Signal -  OpenSignalPDX.org

StreamPDX -  StreamPDX.com

Episode 4: Mentors & Mentees of Portland Meet Portland

Founded in late 1892, the Portland Art Museum is the seventh oldest museum in the United States and the oldest in the Pacific Northwest.

Portland Art Museum

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