My roots penetrate deep into the Earth, I grow strong and I gain knowledge from the nature that surrounds me. I am calm, I am collected, and I am strong.
My body grows up, it is hardened on the outside to protect me. It branches off into my many limbs. I stand tall, swaying in the breeze.
My emotions, my thoughts, my experiences are my leaves, my blossoms, and my fruit. They grow big, strong, and stable in the light of the gods, and the rain of the goddesses. When one fails, a new one takes it’s place. I am a tree, of love and of worship.
Hello all <3 It’s been a while but my commissions are finally re-opening! I do 20 slot commissions, so please check my slot availability. Again, all payment is done up front and through P-ypal or C-shApp! You will recieve an invoice detailing your commission manually or through Paypal. Please keep in mind that complicated designs may cost extra. You may request a refund if the commission has not yet been completed, no questions asked. If you can’t commission me but would still like to support your local two-spirit ndn/roma artist, donations are very welcome! If you have questions or would like to commission me, please e-mail or DM me!
#Repost with @lilnativeboy Reminder that May 5th is the National Day Of Awareness for Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women #MMIW & note that 86% of men who commit these crimes are Non-Native *check my last post if you haven’t already*
The Alamo is a sacred indigenous (Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan) burial ground. It’s not just a pretty building in the middle of a city; it is a sacred site which the Texas Historical Commission has repeatedly disturbed. Even during this pandemic, the THC is trying to disturb four indigenous remains from the burial site. Tap Pilam people have been calling for them to stop, their entire tribal website is plastered with the issue, yet the THC doesn’t set up even a sign at the Alamo that acknowledges the sacred nature of the area or the issues of Tap Pilam people today.
Instead of saying “remember the Alamo” please say “remember the burial grounds.” This is a sacred site for Tap Pilam people.
“ For The Buffalo that could not dream, German photographer Felix von der Osten chronicles life on Montana’s the Fort Belknap Reservation, where since 1888, the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Native American tribes have raised their families and continued to foster a deeply-felt respect for the land. “
You know what, I have gotten my life limit of looking at pictures of natives that white people have taken. Hell, we still gotta deal with Curtis and his baggage he left. Also, the photographer was there for a month and suddenly can shoot photos with feeling that a Native couldn’t have done with an eye far more clear for having experienced it their whole life?
No, my friends and family, you want to see some amazing work, look into the book, “Shooting Back From the Reservation”, where Native children were given cameras to capture their lives and did so with grace and laughter and leave this German bozo alone.
All right, Fam, I got some pretty horrible hate mail for this opinion of mine so now I’m going to expand on my LOVE for “Shooting Back from the Reservation”, and why I dislike this German man’s photos of Natives.
If you have seen Edward Curtis photos (and who hasn’t?) these were taken in the same vein and tell about as much about Natives as Curtis’ did (which is not a lot).
Posed, un-smiling, dressed in regalia - heck, not one picture that this Felix guy took has anyone who is smiling! Not even the children! All posed and stern, with serious faces - this is not the full reality and isn’t the most important part of our communities! Even in the landscape pictures he conveyed isolation and emptiness when it’s not really like that. How can the land be empty when my grandpa taught me how to speak to it?
Shooting Back was made by Native children who were sharing and exploring different aspects of their LIVES. It shows how life really is within a Native community by young Native people. It’s not someone who showed up on a reservation for a month because his girlfriend had extended family there and took pictures. This is a glimpse of a moment out of their day and holds so many aspects of their life that you cannot view from an outsider’s pictures.
It shows you that there is no one way a Native is suppose to look,
It has chubby babies with big heads and intelligent eyes,
And shows that often our places are run down, and held together with more than a little duct tape, WITHOUT it being poverty porn,
It shows the love of rez dogs and rez cars,
And dads that make funny faces just because he likes to hear you laugh,
It shows a cemetery with too many graves,
And those medicine wheels that your aunt makes when you get a new to you car,
It shows kids playing, goofing around, and laughing!
And standing kinda awkwardly next to a white guy,
And elders that make silly faces too!
But my favorite part of this book is that in a society where our Native youth have some of the highest suicide rates, where they are silenced twofold because not only are they Native but they are also children and apparently that means that you’re not a full person yet, this book gives them a platform for their voice.
And I. I just really love this book. So if you want to see what Native life is, not just the poverty porn and the Edward Curtis wannabes, please check this book out. That is all.
Just bought the book, thanks for the rec!
OMG!!! So excited about that! Please let me know how you like it!
Drosera finlaysoniana, the artist formerly known as Drosera indica. This sticky Australian native will eventually grow into one of the biggest, baddest sundews currently in cultivation. In warmer months, these plants climb 12″-24″+ and can catch things as strong as bottleflies and butterflies!
The amazing Sarracenia minor is my personal favorite species of American pitcher plant. The pitchers are generally under 14″ tall, but what they lack in size, they make up for with expertly designed traps. This species of pitcher plant utilizes translucent-white patches of tissue to create “windows”, which, when combined with the downward pointing lid covering the pitcher mouth, effectively disorientate insects unlucky enough to have entered. This in turn tricks insects into thinking the back of the pitchers are the quickest way to freedom, when in reality, they are only becoming more trapped. Sarracenia minor’s “windows” offer bugs a glimmer of hope, but ultimately guarantee the plant a steady meal!
A large bench of American pitcher plants (Sarracenia sp.) growing at Cal State Univ. Fullerton. Leo Song and Ed Read maintain a world class collection!
I met a family today, who grew up on a reservation, but knew nothing about our beliefs. They claimed they never listened to our aadizookaanan, that they didn’t believe in any of the manidoog, that their family had no debaajimojig and it makes me so sad. My culture is dying, lost on lips of our dead. Soon it’ll be gone, not even a memory for our descendants.
[ID: Two tweets by Cedar. They read: “When Indigenous people say stolen land we don’t mean 500 years ago. In the late 1800s a lumber company had my g+ grandfather tell them stories & asked for an “autograph” on blank paper. They forged a land transfer. It’s a golf course today. This is typical Native family history. Another moment in typical Native family history: Colonizer wanted farmland, said my great+ Aunt’s [farm animal] gored him. Her tribe testified in court, she didn’t even own [that type of animal], no one did. She lost, had to pay fees, her home/land was valued at the exact amount.” End ID.]
We’re excited to partner with Amica Insurance for its new campaign to help consumers, especially millennials, prepare for their biggest milestones in life.
Working with Yahoo Storytellers, Amica is introducing Things They Don’t Tell You About, a new branded destination that offers valuable information and advice on topics from buying a car, to purchasing a home, to starting a family. Amica’s new campaign is geared towards millennials, many of whom are facing important decisions around these major milestones for the first time. Consumers can now access exclusive videos and editorial features on Things They Don’t Tell You About to help them better understand and navigate their insurance needs.
As part of this campaign, Amica will also align with Yahoo Finance’s popular live and short form video programming. Amica will connect with viewers through custom integrations, including three branded segments alongside episodes of “Midday Movers” and “Now I Get It” on Yahoo Finance. “Midday Movers” is a daily live show on Yahoo Finance that analyzes the top stories and stocks moving the market right now, discusses recent earnings reports and economic data and features can’t miss interviews with the top money managers and traders on Wall Street. “Now I Get It” is a popular video series on Yahoo Finance that explains the business concepts and jargon from the biggest financial stories of the day. With branded segments appearing at the end of each episode, Amica will share tips and perspectives for consumers on purchasing insurance. Amica will also run extensive video, native and display advertising across Yahoo properties to amplify the sponsorship and drive consumers to Things They Don’t Tell You About.
Launched in 2016, Yahoo Storytellers is a full service content marketing studio, producing premium video and editorial content for brands that is also backed by data. Yahoo Finance is the leading business news site, known for its unrivaled access to financial insights and news. In 2016, audiences spent nearly 13 million hours watching Yahoo Finance’s three daily live shows including Market Movers, Midday Movers and The Final Round. Additionally, time spent watching video across Yahoo’s properties has increased 85% year over year, creating exciting new opportunities for marketers.
This is the last of my native flora photos from last year’s Hawaii assignment. Fittingly this is from the final shoot and perhaps strangely my favorite of all. This is Nototrichium sandwicense, an endemic species in the Amaranthfamily known in the indigenous language as Kului. The flowers’ white-light color is rather tame, but they remain attractive for the fluffy character and produce a pleasing cyan to green tone when exposed to my ultraviolet light. The leaves may be my absolute favorite thing about this plant though. Especially when grown in bright and dry conditions, the leaves become heavily pubescent, tiny hairs creating a translucent silvery sheen overlaying the green leaf surface. They prefer to grown in dry conditions and are naturally present on many of the islands, growing in various well-drained soils at low to moderate altitudes. If I could choose just one of the plants I photographed to grow at home in California, it would be this species!
For some bonus fun, check out the ant in the final picture. She and her associates were wandering all over the flowers, creating quite a lot of frustration for me. In the end there was one frame where one ant was both somewhat in focus and stationary enough to get a good look at how the body fluoresces under 365nm UV.
This is my last native Hawaiian flower to share. I’ll be taking a short break from posting UVIVF images, but I’ll return with some invasive species I photographed the first night there and probably some infrared images down the line as well!
Thanks to Hana Hou! magazine (in particular Matt Mallams!) for bringing me in on this assignment and both the Lyon Arboretum and Hui Ku Maoli Ola for all the help in providing subjects and sparing the time to talk about things. I hope I’ll have another opportunity in the future to come visit!
Dianella sandwicensis, known as Uki in native Hawaiian, is monocot member of the Asphodelaceaefamily which includes some well-known succulent genera such as HaworthiaandAloe.The actinomorphic flowers with anatomy in triplicate causes it to readily resemble flowers of the true lilies, leading to a common name of flax lilies for Dianellaplants in general.
The species is endemic to Hawaii and has a natural range spanning many of the islands where it can grow in many of their environments, whether dry or wet, or low to high altitude. It can flower at any time of year and produces vividly colored purple-blue fruit which were prized for incorporation into seed lei and used for dye. The leaves were further used, being braided into cord or used to thatch houses. In the modern day the plant is still used as a source of natural dye and for ornamental planting.
Thanks to the Lyon Arboretum for making this plant available to me for my assignment for Hana Hou!
Plectranthus parviflorus, known by Alaala wai nui in Hawaiian, is a plant native to the Hawaiian islands as well as other places throughout the Oceania region. This plant from the mint family is one of the easiest grown natives in Hawaii and once established can actually become somewhat weedy, readily growing in dry conditions, even in sidewalk cracks and the crotches of trees making it semi-epiphytic. The leaves, stem, buds, and ultimately calyx are all fuzzy which together with the ease of growing and willingness to flower make it popular as an ornamental native species.
Vitex rotundifolia, the beach vitex, is one of Hawaii’s native plants which grows at seashores throughout the pacific. Though the leaves look little like those of most of the mint family (Lamiaceae)this plant nonetheless belongs to that family (its flowers do look lamiaceous!) This is one of the few native species I observed in the wild while visiting Oahu on commissioned work for Hana Hou! magazine.
Considering its range, it is not surprising that this would be one of the most likely candidates to be stumbled upon in the wild, and in an inversion to the normal scheme, this plant is actually invasive in other parts of the world!
Within the U.S., beach vitex has become naturalized and invasive in the east, with control protocols very similar to the invasive Anredera cordifolia (Madeira Vine) in parts of Australia. It has some remarkable and deleterious characteristics such as promoting hydrophibicity in dunes which impacts other plants’ ability to grow and producing methyl chloride which is a chemical implicated in causing damage to the ozone layer.
