Collective Spirit Podcast
First Peoples Fund presents the Collective Spirit® podcast. The Collective Spirit moves each of us to stand up and make a difference, to pass on ancestral knowledge, and simply extend a hand of generosity. The Collective Spirit podcast features Native artists and culture bearers who discuss the power of Indigenous art and culture. The Collective Spirit® podcast is produced by First Peoples Fund, whose mission is to honor and support Indigenous artists and culture bearers through grant-making initiatives, culturally rooted programming, and training & mentorship. Learn more at www.firstpeoplesfund.org
Collective Spirit Podcast
S3E4: Clementine Bordeaux (Sičáŋǧu Lakótapi)
This is the first of two episodes that will highlight the topic of Global Indigeneity and the role of art in these spaces. In these episodes, we examine the interconnectedness of Indigenous communities worldwide and focus on artist-run initiatives and residencies as powerful platforms for cultural exchange and collaboration. Moving beyond the Western and global Northern-centric narratives, the conversation reasserts the shared histories, values, and interests among Indigenous communities in regions like Central Asia, the Middle East, and others that have been historically marginalized.
Our first guest is Clementine Bordeaux, an artist and scholar, and an enrolled member of the Sičáŋǧu Lakótapi (Rosebud Sioux Tribe), who grew up on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Clementine received a PhD in Culture and Performance from the World Arts and Cultures/Dance program at UCLA. She is currently a University of California President's and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow. In Fall 2025, Clementine will join the History of Art and Visual Culture department at UC Santa Cruz. Clementine is also involved with Racing Magpie - a Lakota-centric arts and culture organization in Rapid City, South Dakota. Racing Magpie accomplishes this through affordable studios, a Native art gallery, arts and cultural programming, innovative collaborations, and creative community space.
Clementine was also part of the inaugural group of Indigenous artists from North America invited to join the Nomadic Art Camp in Kyrgyzstan in fall 2024. The 12-day residency was founded by Shaarbek Amankul, a multidisciplinary artist and the Founder/Director of Б’Art Contemporary, based in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
What is your message to artists and people who are trying to support art, really need to support artists and creative practice, because I think there's ways that we can express ourselves, that we can demonstrate solidarity in a multitude of ways, and that is really grounding our art practice in who we are as tribal people, not catering it to a global audience, because I think when we ground it in who we are and we have these collaborative spaces, tribal people will recognize tribal people. So there isn't a need to have to homogenize our viewpoint and our audience and in that then we're able, I think, able to recognize and see when another tribal person, another Indigenous person, is imagining or reimagining their future.
Speaker 2:First Peoples Fund presents the Collective Spirit Podcast. The Collective Spirit moves each of us to stand up and make a difference, to pass on ancestral knowledge and simply extend a hand of generosity. The Collective Spirit podcast features Native artists and culture bearers who discuss the power of Indigenous art and culture. Hello, it's good to see you too.
Speaker 1:I'm Clementine Bordeaux and I'm from Pine Ridge and I currently live in Rapid City, south Dakota, and that's basically just what I said. But I also am an enrolled member of the Sitchangu Oyate, or, you know, more commonly known as the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. I'm also a postdoctoral fellow with the University of California Riverside and I'll be starting a faculty position at UC Santa Cruz in fall of 2025. So I'll be leaving Rapid City and moving back to California. So I'm excited to have the conversation and it's always good to chat with you, heidi.
Speaker 2:Welcome and thank you for joining us today. This particular episode of the Art Collective Spirit podcast is an opportunity for us to talk about and explore the concept of global indigeneity and art as a catalyst for change, for inciting dialogue and for really bridging and connecting Indigenous people from beyond our own homelands and territorial boundaries. As we get started in this particular episode, I'd like you to provide your definition and how you understand global indigeneity.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think I would define global indigeneity as recognizing a common thread in the way that tribal communities operate and understand the world and epistemological viewpoints, because I think there's ways that we are forever impacted by settler colonialism and colonization, and so for me it's finding those connections where our tribal communities across the globe have demonstrated a continuum.
Speaker 1:And you know, that might look different depending on the region, but I think there's like a common thread that we can see between communities that are still hanging on to these ways of knowing and seeing the world. And that's what I mean when I say ontological or epistemological, right, like how we understand something about the world and why we understand it that way. So the how and why, right. And so I think there's there's something about Indigenous communities that we can see this continuum of thought, but it shifts and morphs as time goes and that usually is, you know, not to homogenize or flatten, but usually is a connection with place, a connection with other than human kin. So how do we understand a relationship with land, with water, with animals, with spirit I usually don't use that word, but right, how we're understanding kind of a emotional and mental connection that may go beyond a global North kind of settler notion.
Speaker 2:Thank you for sharing that. Clementine, I know that you regularly participate in events, conferences, panel discussions, many other things that cause you to do a lot of traveling, sometimes taking you abroad and among global Indigenous communities as you just described. Can you share a bit of your experience and how that supports your definition of global Indigeneity, but also share a bit on how you also realize that the experiences of global Indigenous people often mirrors the challenges that we as Native people experience in what is known as the United States?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think one of my first experiences outside of a North American context, I had the fortune of having a mentor in grad school, nancy Meifel, who invited me to join her on a trip to Norway and that's rare for a faculty to invite a grad student. I was really. Nancy was like pumped. She's, you know, wanted to support grad students and so I traveled with her to Tromso and she was invited by some artists and curators who are trying to have this conversation about, and right, we're up up there, way north and um, there was a young Sami woman who took us, um, they have, you know, relationships with the land in a particular way and they took us to this big rock and she was like this rock is significant and right, they've lost a lot because they all Sami people also experience kind of a, a similar scoop.
Speaker 1:That happened, you know, to their communities, where they were young children were taken from their families, and she was like but I'm going to yoink for you and she's like I'm thinking of one, and so she yoinks for us next to this rock and I was, and that was a moment where I was like whoa, we all love rocks.
Speaker 1:No, but just, you know, just understanding like, across all these time and places, like we still are hanging on and remembering and and and practicing these relationships with place, and then, of course, most recently, with our trip to Kyrgyzstan, I just again like this appreciation and this relationship with rock. So, as you know, we met an artist who was also a healer and he had all these rocks in his art gallery and in his studio and around his building and I literally just wanted to spend time with every single rock, like just pick it up and say hello, because very similar. Here, you know, in Ocheti, shakoing territory, we have a lot of stories about rocks and we have, you know, used rocks for many different things, rocks, and we have, you know, used rocks for many different things, and so it's just, it's moments like that where I, just you, you, start to see the ways that we all imagine our relationships and and continue those relationships with what a western world might see as inanimate but is very much animate to us.
Speaker 2:I guess, on that note you, one of the things that we had talked about is sort of the power or the strength of these types of initiatives that are artist-run, that are happening in direct relationship with community. I know you mentioned that we had participated in this residency in Kyrgyzstan and that you'd had this really incredible experience and so forth. I'm wondering if you could share a little bit about artist run initiatives and how have you seen these platforms enable dialogue and collaboration among indigenous communities across different parts of the world?
Speaker 1:a really powerful way that those of us who are, you know, a part of, are in in collaboration with creative practice, when we are able to lead the conversation about what we want done in and for our community. It's. It's a really great experience and I have I'm blessed to have a really awesome sister. So I have a sister, mary Bordeaux, and her husband, peter Strong, co-founded a artist space here in Rapid City called Racing Magpie and it really centers Ocheti, shokoi artists, so Lakota, dakota, nakota artists in the region, and Racing Magpie has, like studio space, gallery space. They're just getting ready to start renovating a building to expand community space and have more workshop space and it's really exciting to not. I mean, of course, you know we all are on soft money, so we have, we apply for grants, we get grants, we do what we can, but it's also really exciting just to see a space that doesn't always have to be be beholden to somebody else and to really, if they need, if they see a need, they can fill a need, and really trying to listen to community artists and rural artists. I think that's the other thing that I really appreciated about our experience in Kyrgyzstan and I know you're going to be talking with Sharbek, who is the founder of the Nomadic Art Camp there, with Sharbeck, who's the founder of the Nomadic Art Camp there, but again, like he just is able to be, like I know these artists and I'm going to drive other artists around the mountains and visit and have these conversations and not really, you know, the end goal is just to have an experience, and I think that's kind of sometimes the difference.
Speaker 1:There's not always X, y, z that you have to accomplish, but are often trying to just be in the moment and come to know things together, as opposed to really trying to have, like that lofty end goal that often the global north is pushing us to do right, which is the result of capitalism let's produce something.
Speaker 1:But it's like sometimes we just need that experience, we need to spend time together because historically that's what we would have done, and of course there are end goals when we spend time together. But I think when with artists run initiatives, sometimes it's being able to just be together and experience things together. So I just I'm glad that I've been able to have those experiences, because it's sometimes the complete opposite of academia. You're constantly having to produce, you're, you know, shape-shifting into these spaces to ensure that you have funding, that you're networking appropriately, and not that the art world's not like that either. Of course, we have those experiences here too, but I think it's really important to highlight that there are so many, you know, artists-run initiatives that are coming into their own and developing these collaborative spaces, these collaborative spaces.
Speaker 2:Thank you for sharing that. You mentioned the idea of decentering the global North and Western perspectives. Can you explain how these art initiatives contribute to reasserting Indigenous perspectives and systems of knowledge that support the shift away from Western dominance?
Speaker 1:I think for, like marginalized voices. We really need to be firm in who our audience is. I'm coming from this mindset that I'm tired of worrying about what the Western art world or the global North says about tribal people, and I really am, and even in my own research, like I'm really trying to focus on everyday artists, you know, the artists that are creating pieces for each other, for their family, for their community, for myself. I think all these things have to happen simultaneously. We do need artists who have the fortitude to be in those elite, elite spaces. I'm doing air quotes around elite, around those in those elite spaces. Right, yes, we need those people. It's like all hands on deck. But maybe that's another aspect of like global indigeneity is that our we don't separate our creative practice and artistic practice from our everyday life and not to say that artists who are in elite spaces are doing that. But we also need to remind our relatives that they're artists as well, that you don't have to be showing at some fancy gallery to be considered an artist, and I think that's one thing that artists initially, especially in a rural context it's really important that we're highlighting our uncles that make bags for everyone at the powwow are like are repairing everyone's moccasins, like there's so many ways that we have artists in our families and our communities that make a living off of that but aren't highlighted in the same way. And I think that's one thing.
Speaker 1:Like I think about Keith Braveheart, and he's been. He's shifted to creating an artist collective on Pine Ridge and it's really cool to see all this, all the they've been doing these drawing workshops right and he's highlighting a lot of his former students who are excellent painters and drawers, but now he's like trying to help them, mentor them to be teachers. So I think those types of spaces help us de-center Western and global North sentiments and like re-center tribal ideology. That's really important, I think, to kind of reclaim that and be like we've always done this right. We don't need some authority to tell us that it's okay.
Speaker 2:I want to talk a little bit about cultural exchange through art. You know art has been a tool for cultural expression and resistance. How do you believe artistic collaboration can serve as a bridge to connect Indigenous communities globally, particularly those in regions like Central Asia, the Middle East and beyond? And also, I guess in that frame we're considering, or folding in, how Indigenous communities play into that?
Speaker 1:I think art's going to save the world. I think artists help us imagine new worlds and new ways of seeing the world. I think in a tribal context also is like pragmatic we need to make things that are sturdy and last a long time and aren't as precious as the global North makes art. And I think when we do these artistic collaborations, we're also learning from each other about what is pragmatic and beautiful to somebody else. That isn't centering elite, precious spaces right, we're not centering like what's going to make us the most money and right. And that's also it's hard to have that conversation because we often come from communities that are in dire need and sometimes need to make money. And so I think when we're able to have the time and space to pause and learn from each other, then we can imagine a more liberated future. Liberated future I don't mean to sound idealistic or like romanticize this, but I think it really like if everyone had some type of creative practice, I think we would revolt much sooner than is going to happen. And I think that, right, we're seeing that with like college campuses, where the students who we see going to higher education as a privilege, we see students who are having the time and space to think critically and are dissatisfied with what is happening. And I think the same thing if more people had. And again, right, this is like battling against capitalism and the capitalist push to produce and reproduce and make money and pay bills. But imagine if we all had time to just make things together. I think we would be dissatisfied with the way that capitalism is ruining our lives. But we don't ever have that time to stop and think about it.
Speaker 1:And I think art and artistic collaboration can bridge that gap between Indigenous communities, especially so many communities that are historically dispossessed and historically oppressed by empire. And so I really think we A would just learn cool things, right? I don't come from a community that weaves. I mean, we weave quill work, but that's like cool things, right. I don't come from a community that weaves. I mean, we weave quill work, but that's like teeny, tiny, right.
Speaker 1:So I just like imagine learning weaving, you know, from Kanaka, mali, or you know, I think about California basket makers and vice versa. Like, come to Northern Plains, we'll teach you how to tan big giant hides, you know. I think there's so much just practicality, because I think also embedded in that creative practice is again those ontological and epistemological relationships. So then we could start to see those connections and how we're really grounded in specific places and grounded in specific mountains, and grounded in specific rivers, and learning that from each other and knowing that there are relatives all across the globe that take care of us, and relatives in the sense of like the land and the animals, and we can learn that from each other. And that would I think that all comes out of creative practice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm so glad that you mentioned just on a really like basic level that creating the space to have these types of collaborative exchanges with one another. People can share knowledge, you know practices from your community with other folks from other communities and then by doing that you're like working with one another and those spaces are becoming more disparate, like we're working on a very like individual, isolated levels more and more and more every day. And I was also thinking too, based on what you shared. You know the arts largely humanities in general are always like the first thing to go like in budgets and in curriculum and in programming. The value of that is diminished largely by folks that are making those types of decisions. But I also think that they actually understand the value of that because if we're in conversation with one another then, like you said, like art has the capacity to potentially incite revolution and if we're in conversation with each other, then revolution can happen.
Speaker 1:That's obviously like not what they want Very scary for those in power.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think you just really nailed all of that on the head really well, honestly. So I'm wondering then, also in terms of resilience and collective emergence from colonialism you're not being naive to the fact that a lot of Indigenous communities, regionally and also globally, are still grappling with effects of colonialism and imperialism and so on. Can you talk about how artistic collaboration across the borders empower these communities to reclaim their identity and build that resilience that you're talking about?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think this might be a controversial statement. I have a lot of colleagues who are very disgruntled with the popularity of ribbon skirts, the popularity of ribbon skirts. But I also think that there's this conversation about how we historicize ourselves visually and how we try to embrace, like a present day aesthetic and right. And I don't. I'm not like advocating that everyone wear a ribbon skirt, but I think dismissing would not be able to wear otherwise. Like I think about coming. I'm not going to wear a ribbon skirt, but I think dismissing would not be able to wear otherwise. Like I think about coming. I'm not gonna wear buckskin everywhere. I don't want to. It's like it, you know. And another time period, yes, it would probably be more practical, but like now we have new materials and so I will wear a ribbon skirt or, you know, my ribbon pants, because I want to visually like signal, like I'm an Indigenous person and I should be able to express myself as such.
Speaker 1:I can't imagine right, like wearing a grass skirt, a beautifully woven grass skirt, right, and having your tatas out and like right, like where's the practicality in present day? Right, because we've inherited all of this crap from colonialism and we have to grapple with it, and so I think there needs to be a way to think of these things more so as an artistic collaboration across communities, as opposed to like flattening it to laziness and and policing each other. I think that's the other thing that happens often when we see a global indigenous phenomenon like a ribbon skirt and people being like well, we didn't wear that. I'm like yeah, we also didn't wear jeans and Nikes. So like, why can't we find ways to express ourselves as tribal people through contemporary materials and contemporary means? Because at some point in time, everything we did was contemporary and that's just one example, right, like I said, I'm not advocating that everyone wear a ribbon skirt, but I also don't think we should be policing each other on how we're choosing to express ourselves, if it just so happens to be a part of like fashion phenomena, because I also think we could encourage each other again to specify in those ribbon skirts where you come from, right, you know I've seen Choctaw weaving designs and ribbons.
Speaker 1:You know, I've seen I just think about the amazing like MMIW skirts, ribbon skirts that have come out, or even just any type of ribbon work in the woodlands area. I think we can push each other to bring that specificity to this global experience. And I think that's one way that we're grappling with that, um, which is very different, I think, very different than and not to dismiss our fashion designers that are out there, but, right, like a ribbon skirt, I think, feels a little bit more accessible than paying, you know, hundreds of dollars for a replicated polyester skirt. I would rather have, like, my polyester ribbon skirt, you know.
Speaker 1:But I think that's one way we can think about how are we grappling with, like this, this homogenization that happens with global indigeneity, while also trying to bring some specificity to that artistic practice and to me, like a ribbon skirt is one example of that and maybe be a little bit more gentle with each other about, like, who chooses to wear a skirt. And when I recently saw a Facebook post where this young woman had been at an event on her campus and she went to Walmart to, you know, finish shopping for the evening to go home, and some elderly, native women made fun of her for having her ribbon skirt on in Walmart, and I was like, who cares? Like we don't know where she was, you know, and I just think about this policing about time and space and kind of trapping ourselves in these protocols that harm us more so than liberate us, and how do we have these conversations about? Yeah, no-transcript yeah, totally.
Speaker 2:It's interesting because I think about like the men's ribbon shirt and for whatever reason, like that never gets any flack. Like pablo men wear it. Like anishinaabe men wear it. Everyone wears it, alaska probably. Which right we?
Speaker 1:could, we could say is also this like Alaska, probably Right.
Speaker 1:We could say is also this like gendering, that we've inherited, that we need to police women and their bodies, depression, and and then men just can do whatever they want, and that we've inherited that from from, from colonialism, right, like, historically, most most of of us not to flatten us, but most of us come from, you know matrilineal societies, so it would be women making those decisions and saying what looked good and not. I just think about the, the ocheti. There was a group of like lakota men that came back with those beaver skin top hats and all the women were like those are so ugly and plain and then decorated them, you know. So it was the women who were deciding what looked good or not, men getting to wear ribbon shirts whenever they want.
Speaker 2:Yeah, totally, and I really like how you added this thing about being gentle to one another because you see it across the board. You know, in all of our communities when folks are trying to, especially like younger generations are trying to reconnect with community and perhaps even learning our language, learning, you know, whatever our community customs may be and cultural practices, you know it can be really stressful and I know in my community often people can feel shamed out for saying something wrong in our language, the Navajo Nation, and those kind of moments really discourage folks from wanting to actively continue to go down the path of learning and participating in community and staying connected, you know. So, yeah, I'm glad that you mentioned, you know, just being gentle with one another and really thinking is it really worth it to, you know, shame someone out over a ribbon skirt? I think there are many other things that are really problematic in our community that we could shame out, and I don't know that a ribbon skirt is one of those things.
Speaker 2:What practical steps can be taken to strengthen solidarity among Indigenous communities globally, especially those that have been historically marginalized and isolated from one another, and I'm thinking in particular, communities that we also never really learned about until, perhaps, we went to college. And even if you did go to college, there's a high chance that if you didn't take some type of history class or something, you also maybe didn't even learn it there, unless you met folks who were from these places abroad. What are your thoughts on how we, as Indigenous folks, can engage with global communities, care about the issues that are impacting them and really you know, form bonds and identify them as kin?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think, first and foremost, that we shouldn't treat each other like tourists. I think they're right. We have been conditioned to put ourselves on display for Western, global North audience and so often, right, when we're trying to connect with other tribal or Indigenous people, with other tribal or indigenous people, we tend to fall back on that trend of like, well, here's all my wounds and let's pour salt in them. And I and right, because we're we're used to trying to to make non-native people feel something for us. And I think we need to remember, right, if we're thinking about a global indigeneity, that we all understand that pain and that we have to find a way to wash the wound instead of opening it back up.
Speaker 1:And the ways we can do that right is to not assume that, just because you don't know my specific history, right, maybe you don't know about the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. Maybe you don't know about the Wounded Knee Massacre or Wounded Knee, 1973, but I can understand that another tribal group probably has experienced the same historical trauma that my community has, and whether that is a mission system that enslaved most of the population or, you know, an overthrow of a kingdom, right, and being able to build solidarity across what we've been able to bring with us on the continuum rather than the pain, right? What are the? What is the art? What is the? What are the songs? What are the kinship systems right? I would rather you you know, heidi, I remember telling you Lakota means ally, that's how we saw each other. Like I would rather you treat me like an ally and not a tourist, and not to say I don't want to do all the fun things that tourists can do, like I'll visit all your cool touristy spots in your homelands.
Speaker 1:But, I also want to like meet your grandma and like have soup at her house. You know not to put that burden on your grandma, but you know what I mean. Like show me how you would show your cousin and how do we replicate that kind of trend? But it also means that we have to show up as invited guests and not as settlers, and that is also on. There needs to be a reciprocal relationship in how we're trying to understand and strengthen our communication across these global spaces.
Speaker 1:Don't show up as a tourist, show up as an invited guest, right. Those are, I think, two very different perspectives of how we're entering this space. So that also means like, if you're showing up to someone else's house like you're going to offer to do the dishes, you're going to like put things away and not just expect to be catered to, and vice versa, right, you're inviting someone into your home in an intimate way, and home in the broad sense of the word. You don't have to. You know, show the like I said, you don't have to show the wounds, like. You can also have a different type of conversation, I think.
Speaker 2:You know, I think one of the things that perhaps a lot of people in the US context don't realize is that a lot of global communities they actually know more about us from a historical and contemporary perspective than our own fellow countrymen. That was always my experience Also, like in Turkey, for example, I felt like Turkish people were really hip and knowing about exactly what happened to us, and so there was an immediate kinship they established once they knew that I was also Native. What are the things that we can do to sort of break down those types of barriers and also create more sustainable long-term relationships between Native folks and sort of our global Indigenous brothers and sisters?
Speaker 1:That's a really challenging one, I'll admit, and I think about it in the sense of how would I convince my parents to care? Right, my parents are from the boomer generation and experienced boarding school and have been advocates for tribal education here in the state of South Dakota. And it's, how would I frame it for them? Right, because it's very insular their point of view, and not in a bad way, but right, they've been taught to really focus on their own tribal nations and have inherited this kind of and I think we also have in our generation, even like this kind of oppression Olympics. Well, we've had it worse.
Speaker 1:Right, and I think it's recognizing that drive to not pay attention or to not worry about another tribal community across the globe is again stemming from capitalism and the individualism that we inherited over the last 500 years and and that that also, this moment in time, is like a blip in time. Right, like, like 500 years is not a long time if we think about how old the planet is. And here we are, like, how did we paint ourselves in the corner paying taxes, like that's what we did with the earth? Like we're gonna pay taxes, right, cause we, and I just think how, and that's the challenge that's I mean that's a large part of what I've tried to study in school is like, how do we teach about the differences across race, class and gender and how these are all systems that have been created to marginalize people, to oppress people. And then when you throw in the mix like indigeneity, then it's like we scare everyone, right, and so maybe it's.
Speaker 1:It's recognizing, like who is being painted as the villain or the terrorist, when really we've all been painted that way at one point in time, right, I think about the way the water protectors at Standing Rock were painted as terrorists, but we knew, right, they're fighting for our water, they're fighting for land and clean water for everyone, right? And the same way, like who in these global conflicts with Indigenous communities, who's being painted as the villain? Who's getting support from empire? I think those are ways that I've tried to draw parallels. For those who might not understand these connections between Indigenous communities, who, you know, may not look as tribal as we do or may not be the same type of oppressed as we are, I try to signal to like who's getting support from empire, meaning the global North entities like the United States, who's getting that support and who's being painted as a terrorist. You know, tribal people, especially in North America, have always been painted as terrorists at one point or time. Like I think that that's one way I think we can at least draw attention to that. For me it's also because I love conversations about land and place who's protecting the olive trees? Those are the conversations like who's protecting the trees versus who's destroying them, and I think that's a really apt way to recognize and have those conversations about solidarity maybe some long-term things that we might consider.
Speaker 2:How can we, collectively, or how can we individually, continue to uplift and support global indigeneity and these sort of cross collaborations in art?
Speaker 1:I think one way again, it's like this all hands on deck kind of mentality that we need people in our communities, of course, who are solely just focused on your tribal community. And then I think there are individuals like you and I who take up the task of being a part of these global conversations and while also keeping who we are as tribal people very close to us and not giving in to that flattening of culture. And I think, right, we need both. We need people who are solely focused on our tribal communities, because there's also not enough of us. And then there's individual, I think, folks like us who are ready to be in those spaces and often be in uncomfortable spaces. I think that's the other part about the future is that we are going to be very uncomfortable at times.
Speaker 1:I also think the decolonization process is going to be really challenging, like colonization was very violent and so sometimes the future might hold a little bit of violence in how we're untangling from empire, in how we're untangling from empire.
Speaker 1:And again, that's why we really need to support artists and creative practice, because I think there's ways that we can express ourselves, that we can demonstrate solidarity in a multitude of ways, and that is one really grounding our art practice in who we are as tribal people, not catering it to a global audience.
Speaker 1:Because I think when we ground it in who we are and we have these collaborative spaces, tribal people will recognize tribal people. So there isn't a need to have to homogenize our viewpoint and our audience and in that then we're able, I think, able to recognize and see when another tribal person, another Indigenous person is imagining or reimagining their future, because then it doesn't have to also be historicized. I think we should also uplift things that maybe we make us uncomfortable, in the sense that maybe they're using new material, maybe they have a new subject matter. When art is grounded in a specific tribal ways of knowing the world, I think it's very reflective in the practice and you don't have to explain it and then you can recognize those things across community, even if it's different colonial powers, but you can see the future imagining from different people, different artists, and how they're dreaming of something different.
Speaker 2:Clementine, thank you so much for sharing all of that. I'd like to give you the chance now to touch upon anything else that you feel supports this larger conversation that we've had today on global indigeneity and the necessity of engaging with Indigenous people beyond our own borders, and also the importance and the role of critical in these conversations, but also I think we need a conversation about criticality and that being critical doesn't mean I'm not going to support you and I think that's one thing.
Speaker 1:Especially across a global Indigenous context is like we're human, we could be a little judgy, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to support you. Sometimes being critical is coming from a place of care and concern and trying to find a balance between gossiping and being like huh, I wonder what they're thinking through. Who are they thinking through with? And again, like coming from a standpoint of of kinship. And you know, we don't have to be in relation with everyone. Some people are harmful, some people are so like embedded in to reach them, and we don't have to be in relationship with everyone, but maybe give people the benefit of the doubt and start trying to approach each other as relational. And how can we ensure that we're not reacting out of fear and that we're trying to be proactive, out of care? And that's hard right. That's very, very challenging to do and I try to challenge myself to do that all the time, because I could be very critical and I could have a lot of judgment and passive aggressiveness, but at the end of the day. I just want Indigenous people to be successful and I want Indigenous people to be cared for and that, realizing that we all make mistakes. And so how do we ensure that people can get back up when they do make a mistake? And that also means don't work in isolation. That's the other part. I'm like reach out to people, create a network of care. Like find people who are going to support you, find people who are going to challenge you. That's the other thing. Like I'm, I feel like I'm always constantly checking in with my sister or other folks when I'm like is this okay? Am I doing? Like, am I being, you know, not well. Like I think there's something in trying to trying to find those networks of care that will challenge us, but also make sure that we get back up when we make a mistake is to honor and support Indigenous artists and culture bearers through grant-making initiatives, culturally rooted programming, and training and mentorship.
Speaker 2:Learn more at firstpeoplesfundorg.