No More Stolen Sisters - Catalog

No More Stolen Sisters II Curated by: Tersea Faris and Valaria Tatera

Indigenous women are the victims of murder at more than 10 times the national average ~Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women The issue of missing & murdered indigenous women, girls and two spirit ( MMIWG2S) is gaining national attention due to, among many efforts, the recent election of Deb Haaland and her initiatives surrounding this issue. Walker’s Point Center of the Arts was chosen as the platform for this project because Wisconsin is home to eleven (11) registered tribal communities and the adjacent Highway 90 acts as a main corridor for missing persons. It is vital that the issue of MMIWG2S is given a voice in this region.

The exhibit was organized with the curatorial assistance of Professor Teresa Faris, a faculty member in the Department of Art + Design and artist, and artist/activist Valaria Tatera, an enrolled member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. The exhibition showcases technically diverse artworks of indigenous artists and allies addressing a range of experiences surrounding the violence against and loss of indigenous women, girls and 2 spirits. Materials will range from works on paper, mixed-media installation, metal, clay, quillwork, textile and paint.

Exhibiting artists include: Andrea Ene Narno, Celeste Contreras, Chloé Allyn, Chrystal Tourtillot Lepcier, CK Ledesma, Dakota Mace, Elias Not Afraid, Harmony Hill, JJ Otero, John Hitchcock, Karen Ann Hoffman, Kimberly M Blaeser, Lorena Lazard, Monica Gilles-BringsYellow, Niki Johnson, Rebecca Burns, Scott Hill, Sebastian Carre, Teresa Faris, Tom Jones, and Valaria Tatera.

Karen Ann Hoffman Seku , my name is Karen Ann Hoffman. I’m a Haudenosaunee Raised Beadwork artist of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. I’ve been honored to be named a 2020 National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow thanks to the guidance of my teachers, Samuel Thomas and the late Lorna Hill.

A slow and thoughtful beader, I often spend a year or more on each of my legacy pieces. Months are spent understanding the tradition, creating the patterns and testing the ideas before ever taking the first of thousands of hand stitches.

This level of intensity and intimacy impulse these pieces with a life an animacy beyond my own.

I am currently working on a multi year project in concert with a Wisconsin archeologist, Dr Ray Reser. Our local university, the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, is built on a mass Native Burial which has gone largely ignored since the campus opened in 1894.

Sk^n^ Karen Ann

Traps and Maps Multi media, Velvet, Czechoslovakian glass beads, found objects 24” diameter x 6-8 “ tall $3,900.00

Celeste Contreras Bring Them Home Book set is dedicated to the many many women and children who have not yet been brought home. The Books make it an intimate experience with the many lives who have not yet been named, not yet been buried, not yet been returned and not yet been honored the way their ancestors had hoped, from life to death. From small form to larger forms of paper, cut into the shape of a person, each face or silhouette represents 100 of the women/children who are missing totally thousands of faces, forms, people who are still missing.

Bring Them Home Book set, 2019, includes all 4 books Wood, paper, ink, acrylic paint 8.75x3.375x2.5”, 6.375x3.5x3.125”, 3x5x1.5”, 6.75x2.125x2” $1,300.00

Chloe Allyn Spider Silk Dress is an insertion of the multiplicity of Native women in this physical space. The words, like scars, lace fluidly and clumsily across the found garment to tell a story of the artist’s modern self. Silk is revered but easily damaged, and heavy words leave behind marks.

Imagine you are a modern Indigenous woman, the scars of those being lost all around you, decorate you, and you carry them along. The pain is bright red, the history is immense and there are still so many around you that do not read.

Spider Silk Dress, 2021 Cotton thread and glass beads on found silk dress

20”x2”x37.5” NFS

Spider Silk Dress Process, 2021 tape, pen and marker on paper 5”x7” NFS

Crystal Tourtillot Save Her (Savior) (2020) is an attempt to protect our Indigenous youth.

If we provide them a pedestal, give them saintly status, infuse them with culture, will this help keep them from going missing? We need to lift up our voices and advocate in every way possible to save them. The youth featured in this piece is the artist’s niece, who enjoys participating in culturally centered traditions and activities. Her beadwork design from her powwow outfit is prominent in the painting, as it is an important representation for her empowerment. In addition, photos from her participation in culture camp and in her fancy shawl regalia combine to give a glimpse into activities that might help to save the youth.

Save Her (Savior), 2020 acrylic on canvas, collage, beadwork 36” x 36” NFS

Dakota Mace Yák’aashbąąh (horizon) is the essence of Dinétah (Navajo homeland) through minimized lines and the period between daylight and darkness. This is a line into understanding my Diné (Navajo) identity through the material presence of my work as well as a window to land, memory, and culture that is situated in nááda’iiniihgóó (place).

Yák’aashbąąh, 2019 Indigo-Dyed Cotton 72”x140” $6,500.00

Kim Blaeser I see my writing and photography as an “act of attention,” a way of seeing and re-seeing the universe around and within us. My poems and photographs, often call attention to the wounds in our world—environmental degradation, race and class-based inequities, human suffering. But they are equally as likely to notice the intricacies of the everyday world— “the translucent claws of newborn mice”—or to seek pathways of spiritual connection.

In Anishinaabemowin, we speak of minobimaadiziwin, the good life. Because I am invested in learning how to be in the world, my art traces a process of becoming, evokes search or a leaning toward the light. In practice, the lens through which I refract experience often involves justice. It brings together the artistic re-seeing or vision with the Latin spiritus as in breath to speak. Spiritus, the gift of voice, involves not only ability, but responsibility to speak.

This obligation of voice, however, can sometimes manifest itself in restraint. Poetry, at its finest, leaves room for the unsaid or unsayable; photography leaves room for the unseen or unknowable. On our best days, we create a pathway that ultimately fills with silence.

Art is all about question and gesture. It invites a reader, listener, viewer into a dynamic process. Poetry, by its very nature gestures beyond itself; wants to crack open the surface of language and engage experience itself. Likewise, photography gestures beyond mere representation. Both lean close to all borders of being—balance on the verge of vision.

“See Us Sacred,” 2021 picto-poem/photography

“Poem on Disappearance,” 2020 Poetry

Sebastien Carre This necklace can be read on several layers. The part closer to the neck of the wearer is a breading of natural fiber symbolizing the attachment of these Stolen Sisters to nature. It starts on one side with colorful thread before fading to white when they are disappearing and each identity is lost. The second level which start on the colorful side is made with a net of beads in which the red beads represent the kidnapping or killing, the blue symbolize the grieving of the family and closed one and finally the transparent one is there to symbolize the lack of interest to this problem by governments and leaders. The culture is fading when half the population is in danger and their knowledge is lost. That’s why when the net totally disappears there is only the dripping of blood left on the other side of the necklace.

What will be left, Necklace, 2019 Japanese paper, beads, nylon thread & magnetic clasp $1,800.00

JJ Otero At the intersection of living in a capitalistic society and dreaming to create art for art’s sake, I have had to hang on to the pendulum swing from making pretty art that sells to support myself, my college age daughter, and my aging parents to the opposite, making art that says something. I face these magnificent times we live in with a mild reluctance to censor my urge to politicize everything I create. As an Indigenous man, I want to say many things through any chosen medium using expletives about our current occupied existence on these stolen lands.

I take a deep breathe and sway back to my current expression through the metal arts in jewelry form. Jewelry sells and I love creating it for mundane reasons; supporting my family on the Navajo reservation in so-called New Mexico. The alternative is to go back to the nonprofit industrial complex and don my IT Manager hat and the accompanying high blood pressure lifestyle.

In the end, I don’t want to labor anymore. I want my creations to sustain me.

Radicalize Your Politics Center Indigenous Women, 2021 Silver, turquoise, coral 22” x 30” $4,000.00

Niki Johnson When a woman is stolen the fallout resounds not only in the family, but across communities. A seat remains empty, a laugh resides in memory. I dedicate this piece to the daughters, sisters, mothers, aunties and cousins still missing and to the people who love them.

Silent Circle, 2021 Bakelite, glass, porcelain, acrylic and shell buttons on velvet 26”x 26” $4,000.00

Andrea Narno Justicia pedicularis in the background, represents the foundation of the world I dream of, the world we deserve, where justice has arrived, where there are no empty spots at the table when we sit down. Hasta encontrarles is a common phrase in spanish (my first language) which implies that we won’t stop looking for our loved ones that have gone missing until we find them. We actively keep them in the current memory, we don’t forget, we won’t. There are over 100,000 disappeared people in Mexico, nowhere to be found and we all know that they didn’t just vanish into the wind. The impotence and rage of this happening in every corner, shapes the way I and many others inhabit the world and makes me embrace the memories of all our Indigenous siblings that have been taken away. ¿Dónde están? ¡Hasta encontrarles!

Justicia, 2021 Linocut over silkscreened pattern on Sekishu paper, stitch mounted.

15.5 x 23 inches NFS

Harmony Hill The faceless Stolen Sisters portraits are intended to represent the grace, beauty and strength of native women beyond individual identities and tribal regions.

mmiw - Dentalium, Longhouse, Jingle Acrylic on Canvas 16x20”, 16x16”, 16x20” $1,250.00

Lorena Lazard México is one of the most risky countries in Latin America for women’s safety. The UN estimates that in Mexico, 6 out of 10 Mexican women have faced a violent incident during their lifetime, and that more than 40% have been victims of sexual assault.

Feminicides in Mexico designates the murders committed against women and it refers to the murder of women by men who kill them for being women, motivated by misogyny and sexism.

Feminicides leaves an absence within each of us and within the whole society.

My piece is created of images of victims, through this piece I want to pay respect to the victims of feminicides, help not erase their memory and hope that there is not one more.

Ausencia 2 , 2020 Iron, enamel 5 x 9.5 x 1 cm $800.00

Not One More Necklaces 2020 Brass, automobile paint, image transfer in polymer clay, thread $700.00

Monica Gilles My painting, “When YaYa Was Here,” features Susan Irvine Adams in the center. Susie was born and raised on the Flathead Reservation and was an enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Susie was an accomplished jockey and horsewoman as well as a mother to Louie, who I knew as Sile? (My husband’s grandfather).

In the painting, Susie stands with her husband Lomie Adams on the left and their son, Louie Adams on the right. The original picture was taken as part of a welcoming celebration for Louie, who was returning home from the Navy for the first time.

A few years after the picture that this painting is based off was taken, Susie was found dead behind a building on a main road in Arlee, Montana. She had bruises all over her body and according to family her positioning looked “staged”. The most suspicious detail is that Susie was found covered in gasoline, as well as having gasoline in her mouth. Unused matches were found beside her.

When the family pressed authorities to investigate Susie’s death as a murder, they were told that no further investigation would occur. The bruises were explained away as probably from riding horses, even though she had not ridden for weeks preceding her death. No explanation was given for being covered with gasoline.

Susie was just 41 years old when she died. Her official cause of death was ruled as “hypothermia.”

When YaYa Was Here, 2021 Mixed Media- acrylic and resin on cradled basswood 14”x 14” NFS

John Hitchcock John Hitchcock uses the print medium with its long history of commenting on social and political issues to explore his relationships to community, land, and culture. Hitchcock’s artwork consists of abstract representations, mythological hybrid creatures (buffalo, Owl, horse, deer) and military weaponry (tanks, bombs and helicopters). His artworks are based on his childhood memories and stories of growing up in the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma on Comanche Tribal lands next to the US field artillery military base Ft Sill. Many of the images are interpretations of stories told by his Kiowa/Comanche grandparents and abstract representations influenced by beadwork, land, and culture.

Taking The Bugle From The Enemy, 2021 acrylic paint and screenprint on wooden panel 36x”x24”x2” $3,500.00

The Strategy of Invention, 2021 acrylic paint and screenprint on wooden panel 30x”x30”x2” $3,000.00

Those Who Don’t Listen. screenprint, acrylic paint, dye, on board 24”x24” $2,500.00

Tom Jones Julia White was abducted in Albuquerque within the first few weeks of her first year of college. She fought against her assailants and was dumped in the desert just outside of Albuquerque. I did this drawing to show her strength as a Ho-Chunk woman.

Julia White, 2019 Color Pencil on Fabric 40” x 38” $3,200.00

CK Ledesma In my practice, the intersectionality of my identities acts as a departure point to play with the realities of diasporic life while exploring culture, history, place, ancestry, and experiences. These explorations manifest in a range of disciplines and materials shaped by the nature of each project: many of them socially engaged through the performance of culture and rooted in sharing and building community. My work navigates through history and humanity, developing a dialogue around oppositions: scarcity against abundance, trauma vs. joy. It is a conversation about the unknown effects the legacies of enslavement and colonization have on the cultural landscapes of the Caribbean and Puerto Rico.

This piece “El Canto De Atabey: Ni Una Menos/Atabey’s Song: Not One Less” depicts the Taino goddess of fertility created with the repeated phrase “Ni Una Menos”. Atabey is the female entity that created the heaves, she represents the Earth Spirit and the Spirit of all horizontal water.

Pregnant women often pray to her for their safety and to ensure a safe childbirth. The phrase “Ni Una Menos” is a movement. A feminist movement in Latin America against femicides and a collective scream against misogynist violence. Latin America is home to 14 of the 25 countries with the highest rates of femicide in the world--in Puerto Rico one woman is murdered by their partners every 8 to 9 days.

“El Canto de Atabey” is a protective song for all our grandmothers, mothers, sisters, aunts, cousins and loved ones. ¡Vivas Nos Queremos!

El Canto De Atabey: Ni Una Menos (Atabey’s Song: Not One Less) 2021 ink on paper 22” x 30” $500.00

Rebecca Burns The start of colonization upon indigenous Nations was the birth of a classist material culture among us. Living fractured number systems of identity, our basic survival includes the consumerist behavior that defines the masses. Through the attempts to dismantle ancestral and traditional connection through forced acculturation, we have become layered assemblages of time passing, living on ancestral divide.

Baggage, 2018 industrial strength contractor garbage bag 32 1/4’’ X 50’’ NFS

Scott Hill For 30 years I have been living as an artist. In that time many changes in my life happened, including the growth and challenges of learning and creating new art. New mediums and techniques in my two-dimensional pieces have evolved and are more sophisticated. After 2 decades, a new spiritual awakening has happened for me. It is traditional ceremonies, being guided to attend, to heal, which teach me valuable agreements on how to be a human being to protect Mother Earth, to respect all of creation. This has brought about intense feelings to protect Mother Earth and stand for environmental activism and social and political advocacy. My spiritual awakening and subsequent activism has resulted in a simpler, more bold subject matter.

Working with alabaster stone is hard work and at first can be intimidating. It’s from Mother Earth so it has a spirit.

When water is poured on the raw stone, it reveals veins and colors and what it wants to be or say. There is a 360-degree intense examining of dimensions and facets. The continuous grinding and chipping away slowly reveals the form.

The sanding and polishing reveals its true colors. And the spirit of that stone connects us as partners for life. At the same time I was creating stone sculptures, I began to create traditional Iroquois pottery and silver broaches.

My first mural was in 1997 (100’ x 4’) at our community social gatherings/powwow grounds located in Oneida, Wisconsin. I was given the honor to design and paint a large mural on the main structure, which is the focal point for the powwow arena. Community members indicated that this piece was very welcoming and inspiring for the community. I am also inspired by seeing murals in other communities which depict the unique culture and history of the place. I realized that those symbols and colors contain messages that are very inspiring for everyone. This gave me motivation to create more murals for and with my community in Oneida, which I went on to do for many years. As of this year, I have completed 24 murals since 1997.

I believe public art is the key to inspiring people. Many people wish they can paint or sculpt, they have the wish just to create. I believe public art will also inspire people to search for their identity, or be inspired and proud to see and create the symbols of their own beliefs. I think it is important to represent the diversity, history and culture of a place to build a sense of community and unity.

No More Stolen Sisters, 2021 acrylic on canvas 24’’ X 36’ $4,500.00

A. Thompson I believe art is a healing process for both the artist and viewers.

Art is a havoc situation that makes perfects sense when there isn’t anything to make sense out of.

I paint, make sculptures, design imagines, create to save my mind and heart.

I want to be, need to be where ever Art is.

That is my purpose in this insane world.

When She Goes Missing, 2019 Plaster NFS

MMIW Rubiks Cube, 2019 NFS

Elias Jade Not Afraid Two needle appliqué, crow stitch edging, rare glass seed beads, pearls, elk ivory, smoked brain tanned deer hide, antique hand clasps, vintage red pony beads and nylon thread. Beadwork is a form of recovery when dealing with any form of trauma, we have no choice but to confront the issues while sitting for hours working.

Untitled, 2021 NFS

Valaria Tatera (Co-Curator) MMIWG2S stands for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two Spirits. It is both a crisis and a movement. It is essential we understand the connection between the commodification and exploitation of Indigenous lands leads to the commodification and exploitation of Indigenous people.

These Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2 Spirits held important roles in their communities. They made decisions, they held spots on tribal council, they worked to revitalize their languages, they carried cultural knowledge and memory. They were grandmothers, mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts and cousins.

Justice is a critical mass of ribbons. Each stamped with the word Justice and each representing one of the Missing and Murdered. When I cut and stamp the ribbon, I am present, putting my energy and good thoughts into each ribbon.

My goal is to have a ribbon for each MMIWG2S. As new data becomes available, the art piece will grow, creating a living installation.

We will no longer be invisible.

Justice, 2020 Ribbons and Ink 5 ft x 14 ft x 6 in NFS

Teresa F. Faris (Co-Curator)

Interstate 90 acts as a main corridor for missing persons. Through each of the 5000 cuts in the pipe(line) there is a remembrance and healing while the laukkanen (dish) offer hope and protection for survivors.

CWaB:Lien, 190 #19, 2020 Sterling silver, wood altered by a bird, reclaimed Comfy Perch 7 ft. long NFS

CWaB: Lien #18, 2020 Sterling silver, wood altered by a bird, reclaimed Comfy Perch 2.5’’ X 6’’ X 1.25’’ NFS