Resilience & Survival

https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/the-remains-of-10-children-at-the-carlisle-indian-boarding-school-are-returning-home

My inspiration comes from survival itself—surviving the abuses of the missionaries and carrying the legacy of my great-grandmother, who refused to be removed from her sacred lands. Survivors of schools like Holy Rosary Mission in South Dakota recall that “they took the homelife away from us,” leaving fractured families and disrupted identities National Geographic. Out of everything that tried to destroy me, I am still here. We are still here.

Each creation I design is an act of remembrance and resilience, embodying our majestic legacy.
I think of Robert Hazen, taken at six to the Holy Childhood School in Michigan—he endured whip and ruler beatings, “demoralizing” shame, and years of physical and spiritual violence—and yet, he still found healing, sobriety, and returned strength to his people Michigan Advance.
I remember the words of survivors like Clarita Vargas at St. Mary’s Mission, forced into labor typing fundraising cards, silenced under unrelenting pressure National Geographic.

They tried to erase our language, our names, our humanity. One elder was forbidden to use his Alaska Native name and was instead assigned a number for six long years The Washington Post. At Carlisle and other institutions—modeled on the infamous “Kill the Indian, save the man” philosophy—children faced death, abuse, and forced assimilation The Washington PostWikipedia.

Yet our legacy endures. We reclaim our language. We reclaim our land. We reclaim our stories. Each design is not just an artwork—it’s a testament to ancestral resistance and survival.