STARLIGHT, STARBRIGHT, 2023

As a kid, roller skating was a significant part of my life, and I practiced competitively in freestyle and dance, spending thousands of hours spinning, jumping, and racing at the Starlight Roller Rink. Roller skating has come back into popular culture in recent years, and it has been a joy to watch on social media. I’m always deeply interested in challenging preconceived notions about who and how we are defined as
Native people and artists. The truth is we have a thousand stories about our experiences, our interests, our humor. We love hip-hop, metal, skateboarding, and sports, yet we are often cast into what I call “The One Story Narrative” as a monolithic culture, stoic and mystic. While many of us are practicing spiritual peoples, purveyors of culture and lifeways, we are also multi-dimensional human beings. A whimsical, playful, bringing together of women, we styled ourselves to Indigenize the roller derby look, and I wanted there to be a Renaissance style of conversazione silenzio in the mayhem (a nod to Kent Monkman).