The Modernized Indigenous
NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH
The Modernized Indigenous
Foreword and Photography by Jami Balicki, Staff Pho tographer
Modeled by Mx T Clearwater, Menominee, Iley Guenther, Ojibwe, Marisol, Huetar and Sam Giguere, Haida and Hawaiian
Layout design by Elise Wilson, Editorial Director
My name is Jami Balicki, and I am a de scendent of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin! I work as a staff photographer here at Moda Magazine. November is Native American Heritage month, so I wanted to shoot a small series to celebrate Indige nous folks. It felt important to continue to raise visibility and inclusivity to Native cultures through the usage of visual arts. Photography has been a way for me to recover and reclaim my Indigeneity as it feels it has been lost throughout genera tional and ancestral erasure. Each one of us has a unique relationship to our Indige neity. My goal in this shoot is to widen the portrayal of the Indigenous community. I wanted my models to dress in a way that they felt expressed their Indigeneity. We decided to shoot on Ho-Chunk land. This land has been severely colonized for cen turies. I felt it was important to acknowl edge the Ho-Chunk nation and the addi tional eleven Indigenous nations that have historically and continually occupied this space that is Wisconsin. Native American Heritage month does not just last 30 days, it is a daily pursuit of discovering our selves, our lineage, and our cultural identity. Every day is dedicated to stopping the erasure of the different Native Cultures.
