The other two artists who created protest
posters through yәhaw’ , Pettibon and Webber, had participated in previous yәhaw’ projects, including the King Street Station exhibition. Born and raised in Tacoma, Washington,
Pettibon is Black and Salish descent from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation in Montana. Now a language instructor for the Lushootseed Language Institute, she was an educator for Puyallup tribal schools. A multidisciplinary artist who works in mixed media, graphic arts, fiber and beadwork, Pettibon illustrated two posters with six different messages. She explained that the first, her green Black Lives Matter [BLM] poster, “illustrates a diverse crowd fighting for the cause. I chose to omit skin tone because some issues center around colorism, and I wanted the poster to focus on the people fighting for equity. There is no hierarchy, no competition, just people sup- porting each other.” Pettibon says that her second poster, “To-
gether We Lift the Sky,” shows the “Indig- enous and Black community’s support for each other. I hope this illustration appeals to young folks as they are the future, and we know the work we do today is not just for us but for them as well.” Reflecting on the poster project, Pettibon
remarked, “I felt we had the perfect group of Afro-Indigenous artists to create the BLM posters,” she says. “My work is in-line with activism. Through art I reflect and express my perspective as a Black Indigenous wom- an, making my way in an urban setting, away from my tribal lands. I wanted these posters to focus on Black and Indigenous people coming together in solidarity.” Like Pettibon, Webber is also from Wash-
ington state. She was born and raised in Seat- tle and is descended from Sugpiaq (Alutiiq) women with origins in Seldovia, Alaska, and from Black and Choctaw women from the Deep South. Webber is a Two Spirit poet and performance artist whose work incorporates text, audio, photography and archival docu- ments. Her recent solo exhibition, “Casino: A Palimpsest,” at the Frye Art Museum used photographs, archival documents and poet- ry to explore one of the West Coast’s oldest gay bars. Webber’s poster was a collaborative work
featuring lines from her poem, “Grace Notes,” with an illustration by yәhaw’ co-founder Sat- preet Kahlon. The poem’s words, taken from the “Casino: A Palimpsest” exhibition, “are meant to share the transformation possible
Storme Webber is a Two Spirit, Sugpiaq/Black/Choctaw poet and interdisciplinary artist. Her work is cross genre, incorporating text, performance, audio and altar installation, archival photographs and collaboration in order to engage with ideas of history, lineage, gender, race and sexuality.
as we reflect on our lives and ancestral jour- neys,” she says. “I think it was a clarity around my years of unintended and natural inquiry into my family, especially my mother’s side. Like so many people, I’ve been searching through absences and silences and shame, and it became necessary to witness the light, the lift, the ease and the beauty even through sorrow and oppression. ‘Grace Notes’ rep- resents those moments. If there was no grace, we would not be here to tell the tale.” Webber was delighted that the new yәhaw’
project carried forward the theme of soli- darity between Indigenous and Black peo- ple. “White supremacy and capitalism have often set us against each other. We have so much to do in rebuilding this world in the right way.” X
Anya Montiel is curator of American and Native American women’s art and craft, a joint position between the National Museum of the American Indian and the Smithsonian Ameri- can Art Museum.
Visit
yehawshow.com for more information about the collec- tive and its upcoming artist calls.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 23
"BLUES DIVINE" BY JIM GUPTA-CARLSON, 2010
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