Speak for the Peaks

Art Initiative

[speakforthepeaks]

The deadline for the 4th phase of Speak for the Peaks submissions has been extended to July 17th! (at San Francisco Peaks) https://www.instagram.com/p/CRHlJEqADiP/?utm_medium=tumblr

[speakforthepeaks]

Enjoy a watercolor time lapse created by the Project Lead of Speak for the Peaks, as they review the topic of Dook’o’oosłííd and Snowbowl.

As a gentle reminder, the end of the 4th and final phase of this art initiative is July 7th.

To submit your work and also to find more entry details visit SpeakForThePeaks.com

[speakforthepeaks]

Friendly Reminder for the Fourth Phase!

Attention Indigenous, visual artists, story-tellers, jewelry makers, film makers, podcasters, poets, textile proficients, photographers, writers, musicians, and creatives! 

A friendly reminder that July 7th, the deadline for submissions, is approaching!

As you work on your submission, keep the following prompt in mind:

The mountain is a being, that like any person requires social interaction to retain connection. 

As the peaks experience desecration, climate change, and proposals for future expansion, what actions are needed from us as a community to restore the imbalances the mountain endures and also the imbalances we absorb? 

As usual, you are free to select your chosen medium of expression to address the prompt as best as you can. 

Good luck! 

_____

Grand prize

$900

2nd runner-up 

$400

Tertiary runner-ups

$50

______

Entry details and submissions received at SpeakForThePeaks.com. 

[speakforthepeaks]

+ + + + ATTENTION + + + +

Visual Artists, Film Makers, Textile Proficients, Podcasters, Photographers, Musicians, Creative Writers, Jewelry Makers, Story Tellers, and Creatives alike!

Announcing the 4th and final prompt for this art initiative!☝🏽

Instructions: create/express through your chosen medium a work that is loosely guided by the following prompt:

“The mountain is a being, that like any person requires social interaction to retain connection.

As the peaks experience desecration, climate change, and proposals for future expansion, what actions are needed from us as a community to restore the imbalances the mountain ensures and also the imbalances we absorb?”

Deadline for submissions, July 7th!

First Prize $900

Second Prize $400

Tertiary Runner-ups $50

Good luck everyone!

Feel free and encouraged to share with the Indigenous artist(s) in your life!

✨💛🏔✨

More information and details at SpeakForThePeaks.com

#SpeakForThePeaks

[speakforthepeaks]

Congratulations to Kaitlyn Haven for their piece titled "Shimá Dook’o’oosłííd" which has been awarded first prize for the third phase of the Speak for the Peaks art initiative! We thank you Kaitlyn for all the time and attention placed into expressing and sharing your teachings, ideas, and the responsibility to this sacred mountain! ’Ahxéhée nitsáago! Here are the artist’s thoughts on their piece: “Dook'o'ooslííd is one of our sacred mountains and is referred to as "she," therefore, my artwork portrays her as a woman and I chose to display it this way for several reasons. For one, Dine culture is a matrilineal society and we cherish, look up to, and protect our women. Snow Bowl threatens her wellbeing and as Indigenous and Dine people, it is our responsibility and obligation to protect and advocate for those that we cherish. Like a mother, Dook'o'oosłííd has provided for our Native peoples in Northern Arizona - she has held the prayers of our ancestors from years ago, she has protected our homeland, and she comforts those near her. We show our gratitude by taking care of those who have taken care of us. “ Original Post: https://www.instagram.com/khavenart1/ (at San Francisco Peaks) https://www.instagram.com/p/CQDA24OrVNC/?utm_medium=tumblr

[speakforthepeaks]

View this post on Instagram

Congratulations to Makena Willette, Pablo Calderaro and Sierra Felicidad for their musical collaboration, titled "Stand Up for Dook’o’oosłííd" which has been awarded second prize in the Speak for the Peaks art initiative. On behalf of this sacred mountain, we thank you for your generous contribution, musical talents, song writing and visual video editing skills that convey solidarity with regional tribes! Nitsiniiyi'taki, tlazohcamati, and mahalo! 🌸🏔 You can view the entire submission by following the link 👇🏽 Original Post: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CPxOVRxh1jJ/?utm_source=ig (at San Francisco Peaks) https://www.instagram.com/p/CQC-YTIA0jy/?utm_medium=tumblr

[speakforthepeaks]

Congratulations to our third phase Runner-ups: Delano Kinale, Andrea Sekayumptewa, Natohnabah Smith, and Pamela Hohensinn! We thank you for all the unseen thoughts, plans, and actions that took place to create the messaging behind each of these works of art! Each piece conveys how original, smart, creative, and beautiful our people are and the dissemination and survival of knowledge systems that tie into land. In solidarity and on behalf of this sacred mountain, ’ahxéhée, askwali, ni nāskomtin, and kuunda woha! #SpeakForThePeaks Delano Kinale, “Home of the Spirits,San Francisco Peaks “ “My name is Delano Kinale I was in a vehicle accident a few years ago that left me paralyzed from the shoulders down. However I was always an artist at heart with the aide of my iPad and using a stylus which I hold in my mouth and use to draw and create digital imaging of my artwork. . . . this picture portrays the corn with the sun setting on the peaks. With the spectrums of light shining through the water molecules that are on the mountain. Corn with a pottery bowl which holds the four colors of corn that represent the four directions. So please understand and look at the mountain from that perspective if you can and try to see why we do not let development and money take the respect we have as a human being for the earth that gives us life Thank you,Qwah-Qwah,Asqauli’,Kunda,Koon-nah ah,Akhe-he’! Prayers for you and your people to live a long healthy and happy life.” (To read the artists statement in full, please visit our Facebook page as IG has a text limit) *** Andrea Sekayumptewa ,“Nuvaʼtukyaʼov” Original post: https://www.instagram.com/p/CP66dD-FWRN/?utm *** Natohnabah Smith, “Heal” Original post: https://www.instagram.com/nslftslbs_art/ *** Pamela Hohensinn, “The Boot Does Not Care What it Destroys” Original post: https://www.instagram.com/p/COs7iVOrDmk/?igshid=atiouuoegea9 (at San Francisco Peaks) https://www.instagram.com/p/CQCvG87LH7y/?utm_medium=tumblr

[speakforthepeaks]

A reminder for those participating in the SFTP initiative. Feel free to share. 🚴🏽‍♀️⏳

[wiisagi-maiingan]

"In the center of the atrium in a discreetly alarmed case spotlights were focused on an elaborate hairpiece. Its intricate design of bees and flowers was carved from luminous ivory. I was immediately struck by how out of place it seemed on its velvet platform, more like a stolen treasure than a work of art. How much more beautiful it would've been in the black oiled hair of the artist's wife. And more authentic. In a display case, a thing becomes a facsimile of itself, like the drum hung on the gallery wall. A drum becomes authentic when human hand meets wood and hide. Only then do they fulfill its intention."

— Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer, page 128

[diaryofandnwoman]

[probablyasocialecologist]

'Forest gardens’ show how Native land stewardship can outdo nature

Patches of forest cleared and tended by Indigenous communities but lost to time still show more food bounty for humans and animals than surrounding forests.

In a new paper published this week in the journal Ecology and Society, the team reports a striking finding: After more than a century on their own, Indigenous-created forest gardens of the Pacific Northwest support more pollinators, more seed-eating animals and more plant species than the supposedly “natural” conifer forests surrounding them.

“When we look at forest gardens, they’re actually enhancing what nature does, making it much more resilient, much more biodiverse—and, oh yeah, they feed people too,” says Armstrong.

The paper may be the first to quantify how Indigenous land stewardship can enhance what ecologists call functional diversity—a measure of how many goods an ecosystem provides. It joins a growing scientific literature revealing that Indigenous people—both historically and today—often outperform government agencies and conservation organizations at supporting biodiversity, sequestering carbon, and generating other ecological benefits on their land. Leaving nature alone is not always the right course, scientists are finding—and the original land stewards often do it best.

[blackwoolncrown]

who titled this tho bc the very way the title is worded is an affront to indigenous thought that like, does a disservice to the fact taht it’s attempting to validate it. Indigenous ppl interacting with forests IS nature.

[magicmooshka]

While the experiences of BIPOC are not the same, many of the problems that we face are intertwined. We must stand in solidarity as we fight for equality, safety, and justice.

Where to start:

(ACLU) racism in policing:

A history of Anti-Asian hate

Support:

Support the families of the Sikh FedEx Victims

Support the family of Daunte Wright

Verified GoFundMe list for the victims of the Atlanta spa shooting

For protesting:

(ACLU) protesters' rights

[speakforthepeaks]

She Knows a Thing or Two Because She's Seen a Thing of Two . . .

"The mountain’s current well welfare is being disregarded by the colonial powers. I and people like me are also disregarded by the colonial powers. It sucks. We are reaching our boiling point. "

- Michael Sekaquaptewa

. . .

Nurturing Mother

"I drew this picture with a mindset and feeling of what destruction and a reface might feel like if it were my own child. Only being able to touch and cry since I am only one voice."

-Leah White

. . .

Can You Hear the Song?

"My poem is a comparison of the attempt destruction of the peaks and it's cultural significance to the Diné and the attempt intrusion of modern ideals in my life and my beliefs of Diné tradition and culture, which interrelate. There's a constant fight to keep Diné culture and traditions alive and these parallels show how it can affect our individual lives and Mother Earth."

-Glenda Davis

. . .

Koyemsi!

"When the San Francisco went up in flames it took a large toll on many of our Hopi people. The peaks are sacred place where our Katsinas live and where many stories take place. I was told by a friend that there was a news article and it was reported that people actually seen these Koyemsi’s running towards the fire into the peaks. In my head i’d like to think they were trying to help put out the fire or rescuing other living beings. As Indigenous people and those especially who have a connection here, we need to do better and protect our Katsinas from things like Snowbowl and other major construction being planned in the future. If you drive in the peaks now everything’s burnt, and the sad thing is we will never see it the way it was before...at least not in our lifetime."

-Precious Vicente

. . .

At the End of the Day

"What my art means to me, At the end of day the construction/reclaimed snow effects our health and well being to the earth. Our songs, prayers, ceremonies, sacred animals reside on Dook'o'oosliid. Not only us the people, but; the animals are disturbed as well. All of natures living things have a purpose up. Plants, rocks trees, soil everything we need for medicine, herbs, healing and guidance. Majority of our needs as Navajos revolve around it. What we give back and what is given to us from the Holy people. Dook'o'oosliid goes back to the traditional Navajo Creation stories as being the only female of the four sacred mountains. It is one of many places that made us who we are today."

-Candace Williams

. . .

To view more submissions, visit speakforthepeaks.com!

[brooklynmuseum]

The photographs Wendy Red Star uses in her Crow Peace Delegation series were originally taken by Charles Milton Bell in 1880 when a Crow delegation of 6 chiefs traveled to Washington D.C. to negotiate the expansion of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Bell is often criticized for not identifying the sitter or even the nation his subjects came from. In the series, Red Star enlivens the figures with red ink annotations which provide more in-depth information about the person’s history and the significance of their regalia, educating nonindigenous viewers while also commenting on white Americans’ ignorance of Native American culture. 

Posted by Rachel Lewis Wendy Red Star (Apsáalooke (Crow), born Billings, Montana, 1981). Peelatchiwaaxpáash / Medicine Crow (Raven), 2014, from the series 1880 Crow Peace Delegation. Pigment print on paper, from digitally reproduced and artist-manipulated photograph by C.M. (Charles Milton) Bell, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution. #BrooklynMuseum; Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Gift of Loren G. Lipson, M.D., TL2018.8.1a–b. © Wendy Red Star. 

[figdays]

indigenous Usagi Print // IndigenousWomenArt

[jareckiworld]

Christi Belcourt —The Fish are Fasting  (acrylic on panel, 2018)

[speakforthepeaks]