“When I perform, I think about my ancestors.”

KP of Black Belt Eagle Scout talks about variations of life and contentment: building strength in music and ancestry, finding songs through ceremony, and making time for self-care.

Singing to our Relatives

"We exist, we talk, we pray, we dance, we love, and we continue."

In our last episode of season one of Two Spirit Talks, we talk to three Anishinaabe artists and thinkers about the important of indigiqueer visions of the future, and about their own relationships with past and future ancestors.

"The future is not a tense, it's an aspect" attributed to Erica Tremblay “Colonial manhood is a fiction” attributed to Ada Avery

Find Kai @mekadebinesikwe
Find Cleo:
Patreon - Patreon.com/CleoKeahna
Website - cleokeahna.com
Twitter -  @CleoKeahna
Instagram - @Shaawanobinesiik
Bandcamp + Tumblr - BillyJackass

Indigiqueer Futurisms

“We’re making our own history.” 

Meet our hosts, Jack and Rick, through a discussion of their personal journeys toward acceptance, intentions for individual growth, and their shared hopes for this project.

Love, Labels, and Tattoos

“People need a portal.” 

Marlon Fixico reminisces on his journey from a childhood shaped by his elders to his roles as a Two Spirit activist, organizer, and -- now -- elder himself.

The Portal

“I go into the wilderness to heal.” 

Vivian Mork, Tlingit elder and traditional foods knowledge holder, illuminates the innate relationships between nature, language, sexuality, and well-being -- and how the damage of climate change threatens these connections.

Nature’s Always Been Queer

“Being Two Spirit is a bundle to carry.” 

Itai Jeffries describes the people who guided their journey toward visibility and offers a list of five things everyone should know about Two Spirit people.

Sovereign Bodies, Sovereign Histories

Ometeotl / nya:wëh sgë:nö' / haa marúawe / Tēnā koutou katoa.  This sound piece is a guest track created with voices of water, wind, fire, rock and other elemental beings that teach humans about our powers to transform, flow and (re)create our body-spirits.  Journeying through the many layers of self-manifestation as Indigenous transpeople, we center on the movement or energy of trans embodiment by listening more deeply to our elemental ancestors.  As we lead with the interplay of more-than-human voices, we release linear concepts of space or time, weaving our personal reflections to reclaim our trans sovereignty; Indigenous trans people are as traditional and ancient as creation.  Open your ears and heart to a ritual of sound, find a good pair of headphones and turn up the volume!   

Maramingpo Salamat / wado (Cherokee syllabary: ᏩᏙ) / Ngā mihi ki a koutou.  We give thanks to the lands of our ancestors, who create us and continue to guide us.  We give thanks to the lands and guardians where we currently live and work for allowing us to work alongside you and sharing your teachings with us: Kirikirioa, Aotearoa, the upland forests near sq̓ʷuʔalqʷuʔ.  We thank tangata whenua, especially Alejandra Jensen Whakataka, who teach Rafael/a about taonga pūoro and helped to play and record the oro of puruhau, ponga īhu, pūtōrino, porotiti, and pūrerehua.  We also give big thanks to Itai Jeffries and Morgan Thomas at NPAIHB for bringing us together to create this project!  Thank you to the beings who lent their voices to the piece and continuously teach and inspire us. 

Who We are:

Rafael/a Luna-Pizano (Ilocano, Visayan, MeXicano, unnamed) has grown near Tongva and Chumash mountains, Mount Tahoma and always next to Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa (the Pacific ocean).  Rafael/a is a mover, noise-maker and poet who is currently working on a creative practice PhD at Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato in Kirikiriroa, Aotearoa.  Through a combination of sound, movement and voice, he continues to co-research how ritual practice can bring forth the ancestral knowledge stored inside Indigenous transpeople’s bodies as a reflection of our elemental lineage.  He can often be found creating guerrilla art and ritual at the water or in the stairwells.  Rafael/a recently built a small bahay kubo with other Indigenous, baklat and takatāpui artists and moved it through the streets of Te Whanganui-a-Tara as a call to uplift queer, Indigenous spaces of rest and resistance.   Rafael/a loves to play and grow through dance, voice and just being alive in his trans body.

Raven Two Feathers (Cherokee, Seneca, Cayuga, Comanche) (he/they) is a Two Spirit, Emmy award winning creator based in Seattle, WA.  Originally from New Mexico, they spent their childhood moving and exploring Indigenous cultures across the continent and Pacific.  They returned to New Mexico to attend Santa Fe University of Art & Design, graduating magna cum laude with a BFA in Film Production.  After graduation, their path led them to working on and creating more Indigenous art than ever and things began to feel right.  They recently released a comic-based zine, “Qualifications of Being,” about their journey of realizing they are trans and Two Spirit.  They are in post for a VR experience where the viewer rides alongside them on their drive to top surgery.  They continue to grow and explore their practice through the people they meet, and the stories that guide them.

Hā / Shəliʔ

“We’re all relatives.”

Enter the arena of the BAAITS Two Spirit Powwow as six people—dancers, organizers, elders, and participants—reflect on their 2020 experience and their vision for what’s next.

Completing the Circle

Our stories are a reflection of our people, and it is time for the voices of our Two Spirit family to be heard. Join us each month to hear directly from our community about ceremonies, songs, and stories of solidarity that are helping us to build upon the diverse teachings of our pasts towards a brighter Indigenous future for all.

Our Two Spirit community is the link that will help to heal the circle.



We know Indigenous people use many terms to describe their identities and use Two Spirit in a variety of ways. We’re using Two Spirit here to refer to Indigenous people who have diverse sexualities and gender identities.

Singing to our Relatives

Two Spirit Talks

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