6. Reinsch Library
QUESTION: Reliant by Weeya Calif is a piece that depicts our interconnectedness across generations. What are ways that we honor and learn from both the youngest and oldest members of our communities?
CONSIDER this video as you reflect: Why Indigenous Peoples Respect Their Elders.
READ An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz.
WATCH Fry Bread: A Native American Story & My Powerful Hair.
MU PATH Featured Artists
Tanaya Winder is a poet, singer/songwriter, and spoken word artist from the Duckwater Shoshone, Southern Ute, and Pyramid Lake Paiute Nations. Tanaya’s poetry collections include Words Like Love (2015) and Why Storms Are Named After People and Bullets Remain Nameless (2017). She has a powerful TED talk called “Igniting Healing” and has co-founded an online literary magazine called As Us: A Space for Writers of the World. Follow her on Instagram @tanayawinder.
Martha Berry is an artist and citizen of the Cherokee Nation who has been creating traditional Cherokee beadwork for over four decades. In her pieces, Martha uses materials, techniques, and designs that are period authentic to early 19th century Cherokee beadwork. The Cherokee Nation has designated Martha a Cherokee National Treasure and a Cherokee Nation Honored Elder for her work in preserving Cherokee customs and heritage. Her piece on display in MU’s library is called Kamama, which means “butterfly” in Cherokee. Follow her on YouTube here.
Weeya Calif is an award-winning artist, educator, storyteller, and citizen of The Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama. Her artwork represents Southeast Woodlands tribes, and her storytelling keeps her culture’s oral traditions alive, as passed down through generations of her family. She uses themes of balance, harmony, and nature in her work, along with vibrant colors, to celebrate the enduring wisdom of Indigenous communities. Her pieces on display in MU’s library are The Three, Reliant, and MMIW: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. Follow her on Instagram @weeyacalif.
Pathways to Heartwork
WATCH the April 2024 panel featuring Tanaya Winder, Martha Berry, and Weeya Calif here.
The theme of “heartwork” runs throughout the panel. In Tanaya’s words: “Heartwork is your purpose combined with passion; it is taking whatever your heart has been charged with and committing to do the work necessary to honor your spirit…Practicing heartwork is to honor your purpose through empathy, compassion, respect, reciprocity, and love…Heartwork is a commitment to healing yourself, your family, your loved ones, your community, and your ancestors.”
We invite all who visit the PATH to consider how they might practice heartwork in their own lives.
DONATE to the First Peoples Fund to honor and support Native artists.
SUPPORT the State Recognized Tribal Artists Guild (SRTAG) here.
