INTERNATIONAL STORY LIFTING UP INDIGENOUS WOMEN ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ DAY AND EVERY DAY BY NIA TERO & AMPLIFIER WHILE PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD INCREASINGLY EXPERIENCE THE ALARMING EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE, solutions to healing the planet have been right in front of us all along. Countless Indigenous peoples have lived in reciprocity with Earth since time immemorial. Despite centuries of colonization and ongoing threats to their sovereignty, Indigenous peoples collectively sustain 80% of the world’s HINALEIMOANA WONG-KALU (KANAKA MAOLI) is a Native Hawaiian teacher, cultural practitioner, and filmmaker who uses digital media to protect and perpetuate Indigenous languages and traditions. POSTER DESIGNED BY TRACIE CHING AND CINDY CHISCHILLY. COURTESY OF NIA TERO / AMPLIFIER remaining biodiversity today, including ecosystems essential to our global climate, fresh water, and food security. Indigenous practices offer a critical pathway to healing a planet in crisis, and a unique global art project is recognizing inspiring Indigenous women leaders upholding both Indigenous rights and guardianship of collective territories. ‘Thriving Peoples. Thriving Places.’ is the latest in a series of collaborations between Nia Tero, a global non-profit working in solidarity with Indigenous peoples to strengthen guardianship of Earth and all beings, and Amplifier, a nonprofit design lab that makes art and media experiments to amplify the most important social movements of our time. Expanding upon the 12 portraits commissioned in 2021, this year’s four new portraits are a collaboration between illustrators Tracie Ching (Kanaka Maoli) and Cindy Chischilly (Diné). The art will be available digitally and at public art events in cities including Seattle (USA), Auckland (Aotearoa), and Manila (Philippines). The project celebrates the vibrant and ever-present leadership of Indigenous women in protecting biodiversity and leading grassroots movements to drive action for the health of the planet. This year’s activation launches on 10 October 2022, Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Turtle Island (North America). Like International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples in August, activities on this day recognize the harm of colonialism and the importance of Indigenous land sovereignty. The Indigenous women being honored with portraits this year are activists, educators, and climate experts working not for personal gain but for collective thriving, rooted FLOR PALMAR (WAYUU IIPUANA) is a leading figure in Venezuela’s effort to develop bilingual, multicultural education for the nation’s diverse Indigenous peoples. In addition to having worked in Venezuela’s Ministry of Education as coordinator of Programs in the Office of Bilingual Intercultural Education and serving as a member of the National Commission on Curriculum within the Ministry of Education, she has authored and co-authored international publications related to the history and practice of Indigenous education. ALISHA “DIINASHII” CARLSON (NEETS’AII GWICH’IN) follows in the footsteps of her Ancestor’s creativity and imagination. In addition to her filmmaking endeavors, she works for the Arctic Village Tribal Council and is a mother to her two children. She has her AAS degrees in Accounting and Business. She has always been active in ensuring that Gwich’in dance and songs continue for generations to come. She looks forward to making more films in the Gwich’in language that uplift her beautiful culture. POSTER DESIGNED BY TRACIE CHING AND CINDY CHISCHILLY. COURTESY OF NIA TERO / AMPLIFIER POSTER DESIGNED BY TRACIE CHING AND CINDY CHISCHILLY. COURTESY OF NIA TERO / AMPLIFIER NATALIE BALL (BLACK, MODOC, KLAMATH) was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Ethnic Studies in 2005, furthered her education in New Zealand, at Massey University, where she attained her master’s degree in Maori Visual Arts, and earned her MFA from Yale University School of Art in painting and printmaking in 2018. She currently resides with her three children on the Klamath Tribes former reservation, Chiloquin, Oregon where she works for the Klamath Tribes. Natalie Ball is an Indigenous artist who examines internal and external discourses that shape Indian identity through contemporary installation art. POSTER DESIGNED BY TRACIE CHING AND CINDY CHISCHILLY. COURTESY OF NIA TERO / AMPLIFIER 10 DENVER VOICE October 2022
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