THE WORLD NEEDS MORE ANCESTRY HOW ART CAN BE AN ANTIDOTE TO GENOCIDE, A TOOL TO HELP HEAL INVISIBILITY BY BEATIE WOLFE ART & IMAGES COURTESY OF L FRANK PORTRAITS BY MONICA NOUWENS There are few individuals that stand for and embody a collective declared “extinct”, few artists that use their art to revive a culture obliterated by genocide, few ways of being that continually point to what we need to return to, what we have lost along the way. L Frank is an artist with the weight of an entire ancestry on her shoulders who demands not just visibility but absolute reverence. Because for L, art is so much more than a luxury, it's a responsibility. As a Tongva-Acjachemen artist, activist, tribal scholar, elder, writer, and one of the most remarkable people I've met in a millennia, L's artwork encompasses multi-mediums, artforms and communication methods and has been featured in leading galleries and museums worldwide. But L’s art also dips into practices long forgotten, whispers of the past, which include reviving the Tongva stone bowl, early forms of basketry, and canoe building as a way of reclaiming her ancestry and keeping it alive for generations to come. For L Frank, who's dedicated her life to the revival, representation and visibility of indigenous art practices and languages originating from the Los Angeles basin, art is a mirror that reflects a living culture through which a community can recognize itself. BEATIE: I was lucky enough to meet you at this wonderful Sister Corita Kent event that dublab was putting on with the Corita Foundation and The Great Discontent magazine. And you and I were speaking on a panel after a documentary by Aaron Rose about Corita’s work. And as soon as I met you, it felt like I'd known you forever. L Frank: Yes. For me also. And then when I heard you speaking, I wasn't kidding when I said, “Yeah, what she said” because you expressed things that are the way that I feel. BEATIE: So please tell us more about your specific tribal background. L FRANK: Well I’m L Frank and I'm a Hollywood Indian. My tribe is the No. 109 Tongva tribe. We are predominantly in the LA Basin and out to the channel islands including Pimu or Pimungna which is Catalina Island. Island of the Blue Dolphins is in our sphere and that's actually the center of our universe, but it's also shared by the Acjachemen and Luiseño peoples who are a little bit south in San Juan Capistrano. I'm Acjachemen. I'm also Rarámuri from the Sierra Madres of Mexico. Everybody tries on our huaraches and tries to run barefoot and then they get leg cramps because they weren't born to do it. But we're the runners up in the mountains. BEATIE: And when were you first aware of those different tribal aspects to yourself? L FRANK: Well, I never had a name. All I had was before I was born, I traveled the world with another native and we chose where we were going to live. When I was in utero I could hear the voices of my ancestors and then when I was a little kid I’d lay on these fields where it turns out 600 of my people were buried, 400 of them women, and they used to talk to me. So I never knew a name, but I knew who I was, always. And now because of genocide everyone expects me to have paperwork to prove who I am. And my father said, “We know who we are. We don't need that paper.” It stops you from doing a lot of things in this world but we know who we are, and we call ourselves by our village names and family names. It wasn’t until I was 22 or 23 when I got the Tongva-Acjachemen tribal names. BEATIE: I think we pick up on so little of what's actually out there. Our sensory perceptions are so limited and so reduced; it’s part of being a human being. L FRANK: Yes and most of us live where there's a lot of noise and so we just take a lot for granted. It's like when Sister Corita had you look through the little hole in the card to see the world. We need to listen that way too. L FRANK & BEATIE AT NEW RULES NEXT WEEK COYOTE'S MAP OF THE STARS
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