Wahoo finally finished this project it took FOREVER!! Anyways this is what I thought about the SECOND i saw those nunchucks in DR. Do with this what you will
I keep forgetting to post on tumblr oops. Fixating on Palia again lol. I've drawn little else other than Einar and Rorik, my galdur oc. They're old and in love (source: trust me bro I was there)
just saying, I think i wrote a kickass artist statement for a residency program application! btw this is specifically asking for my perspective as an indigenous artist!
As a child, I wasn't raised within my culture. Due to colonisation and ethnocide/genocide, many Indigenous peoples were forced to hide who they were to protect themselves. My family, for the longest time, shunned that part of us. But now I am reaching out, I am learning more about my people and myself. And this has impacted who I am as an artist as well.
My work recently has been focused on Indigenous struggles, anger, and our indomitable spirits. It also focuses on gender and how Western gender roles have impacted my life as well. As a Two-Spirit person, I walk between worlds of men and women. When once my ancestors could live as they are and be accepted, I struggle because of the Western world's dependency on outdated and ridiculous notions of what a man or a woman must be. And I reflect that in my work.
My rage at the injustices of the world burns and fuels me to fight, to speak out, to not be silenced by my oppressors. I feel as though my work and personal values are reflected in this quote by Kwame Ture, a Black civil rights activist: “There’s a difference between peace and liberation, is there not? You can have injustice and have peace, so peace isn’t the answer, liberation is the answer. That’s the white man’s word - peace. Liberation is our word."
Liberation from oppression, liberation from pain, starvation, rape, and death purely because of who we are. I believe in a freed Turtle Island, I believe in a freed Palestine, and I believe in a freed world.
I need my work to scare you awake from your slumber of believing all is right with the world. No, nothing is right until all peoples are liberated from the shackles of oppression and cruelty.
I want to show you the cruelty, the brutality, the horrors of the existence of Indigenous peoples. But also shows you the kindness, the love, the resilience we must have for one another. I am a storyteller, and I want to show you the end of Western imperialism and colonisation - a better world for all of us.
Donning my armour (putting the hood up on my hoodie) and kissing my wife goodbye (holding my buildabear axolotl So Tight) before I leave for the war (posting a fic on ao3) where i will stay and fight for many moons (I am procrastinating studying for my finals)