Notice Board

Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie, 

Imaging Ourselves: Portraits and Moments: Portraits of ancestors, family, our communities are best imaged when the imaging comes from within, the relaxed body language, the genuine smile, unfiltered pain, emotions that provide the stories of our lives. 

Of course, there are the many examples of images descending from colonial imaging. The eagerness to image build misconceptions upon objectification, and rely upon an audience who want all to be simple. When a misrepresented community intervenes, it is powerful.

What does self-determined visual documentation look like, I will present images from the Native American San Francisco Community removal of the offensive “Early Days” statue, and the collaborative project that followed the removal. “Continuous Thread” was supported by the San Francisco Arts Commission, and the San Francisco Native American community, a photographic claiming of the plinth on which the statue rested. 

Bio: Born into the Bear clan of the Taskigi, descendent of the Hvteyievlke band of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma. Enrolled in the Navajo Nation, born for Tsi’naajinii, and formally adopted in to the Keet Gooshi Hit (Killer Whale Fin House), and the La̱xsgiik (Eagle Clan) of Metlakatla.

Tsinhnahjinnie has served as board member on the following organizations, American Indian Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, CA, Intertribal Friendship House, Oakland, CA, Gay American Indians, San Francisco. Tsinhnahjinnie currently serves as professor in the Department of Native American Studies and Director of the C.N. Gorman Museum at University of California Davis.