The Tradish.ish Consistency Project 2024 Exhibition

We are the children of the Middle Waters

Artist: Keri Wilborn
Nation(s): Hausa (West African decent), Welsh, Chahta (Choctaw), Ni-U-Kon-Ska (Osage)
Price: $ Not For Sale

From the Artist: My piece is a symbolization of my people’s ancestral Osage land and the rivers that flow through and around it. Many of my relatives may be removed from this land, but we are still connected to it through our lineage. This is represented by the string of fingerprinted elk teeth outstretched across the land. The symbols bordering the piece represent community, kin, happiness, sadness, salmon, eagle, fire, and Creator and how we are all interdependent.

Connection

Artist: Ila Lawrence
Nation(s): Michif (Métis) & Nêhiýaw
Price: $125

From the Artist: The ground in my piece is red to represent the blood spilled by my people. The 6 infinity symbols symbolize my family names, Anderson, Henderson, LaRance, Gariepy, Fagnant, and Racette. The stars symbolize Nehiyaw heritage because we are the star people. The seven elk teeth represent the seven generations. Overall the piece represents nature and all that is connected by it.

Ee’kii (my home)

Artist: Zani Nevayaktew
Nation(s): Hopi
Price: $200

From the Artist: My art piece is a representation of what it’s like being back home. How our landscape looks and feels to me, what I love about it. To me there’s so much beauty in our desert that some people may not see or understand. But it also symbolizes the lands we share with the Diné people and how my kids and husband also come from that land which makes the connection even more greater.

Journey

Artist: Alexis Rood
Nation(s): Mexica, Otomí, Muscogee Creek
Price: $100

From the Artist: It is a symbol of my journey to reconnect with my roots. And the unfinished canvas in the middle represents the spaces waiting to be filled by family, wisdom, stories, strangth and so much more.

*Unnamed

Artist: Falconn Burkett
Nation(s): Muscogee Creek, Crow, Grand Ronde nations and French Canadian
Price: $280

From the Artist: I used as many different mediums that I could while paying homage to the three sisters. I wanted to make all these different elements come together to make a new telling of a traditional story. I used a Woodburner on the leather to make cedar roses blossom from the dots that are done in a spiral because the Muscogee Creek tribe does stomp dance and I wanted to incorporate that every step (represented with the dots) that we protect and grow as we carry on our heritage. The roots are symbolism of our ties to our culture but that they go much deeper than out surface takeaway.

Walk In Beauty

Artist: Tracie Jackson
Nation(s): Diné (Navajo)
Price: SOLD

From the Artist: I made baby moccasins with silver and turquoise embellishments because at this place in my life I’m seeing a lot of my friends and family starting their own families by having babies. I was taught babies are a blessing and are reminders why we carry traditions on. Turquoise in my community represents prosperity, we wear it to connect back to the land, and wearing it allows our holy people to recognize us. In my community we make jewelry and all kinds of baby items to keep good medicine around our youth.

In my culture we don’t gift babies gifts until after they are born and had their ‘First Laugh Dinner’. We do this out of respect to the mother. While a mother is pregnant we can only give her gifts, not the baby. In my perspective I thought this was so respectful because in western society they completely forget about the mother and focus on the baby before they’re born. I think with the statistics of women and miscarriages/postpartum depression, western society tends to forget to cater to women’s mental, emotional, and physical health. My culture’s teachings are reminders of how intentional and considerate we are to all life and making sure our matriarchs are taken care of.

It’s more important than ever we talk about Women’s health and advocate to help fight for our rights to having control over our own bodies. You can do this by supporting local grassroots organizations. I am asking for donations to Saad K’idilyé and Changing Woman Initiative, two Indigenous organizations that help families and women through traditional health services.

Ashes To Ashes

Artist: Gabe Colhoff
Nation(s): Northern Cheyenne & Blackfeet
Price: SOLD

From the Artist: My piece is an example of an important style of art from the area of plains where both my tribes come from. It's a style of art that we used to tell our stories, describe ceremonies and points of importance, called "Ledger Art."

My piece is showing the moment when the church which was attached to the mission where my grandma was raised, after being forcefully removed from her family, was burned down. Where "Ledger Art" is typically drawn on ledger paper, hence the name, my drawings of this victorious moment have been drawn on burnt bible pages.

I've attached 7 elk teeth, representing the belief that our actions today should be guided by the 7 generations before us, and will affect the 7 generations after us.

I've also attached a pin of horse hair, signifying the importance of the action described in the drawing and marking it as a victory.

The Weaving of Nations

Artist: S.A. Lawrence-Welch
Nation(s): Michif (Métis) & Nêhiýaw
Price: $350

From the Artist: I wanted this piece to embody both of my nations by using weaving to honour my Michif relatives and the use of the stars leading to the directions symbolized by shells for my Nêhiýaw family.

The goal of this piece is to showcase the complexity of holding more than one nation, but also simplicity of interweaving Nations together to become something so beautiful.

Patli

Artist: Zooey Hatjes
Nation(s): Mexican Indigenous from Mitchoacan and Jalisco
Price: $100

From the Artist: The pine needle basket represents my journey through reconnecting with my own Indigeneity. I collected the pine needles from the ponderosa pine tree that grows behind my house. These trees grow in PNW and reach all the way through Mexico. The canvas displays 5 human figures designed within a mixed media frame. These figures represent my ancestors. Even though I do not know them, I feel as though they are with me as I learn and stumble my way through the stories and lands leading me back to where I’m from. They watch as I create these baskets and connect to my culture even though I am far from home.