Introducing: For Our Relatives

We welcome you to this space, as our relatives. We are two Indigenous queer creatives from different communities + people, coming together to share our thoughts and art with other like-minded individuals. We created For our Relatives to be a creative space to showcase Indigenous queer and/or two spirit art, existence, and beauty. This is an open space where we push back against a curated aesthetic or feeling, instead choosing to honor our work in its rawness, truth, and present. In other words - a space for us to exist as we choose. 

As we move into fall, we want to honor creative flow and community rhythm. Think of this as a digital open mic, or the part in the beading circle where you show each other what you’ve made, a place to share with each other, our works in progress, reflections, creations, even questions. This is a place to uplift each other and to be safe. here, Indigenous queer mind, spirit, body, and heart are honored. 

In each issue, we envision this space to feature Indigneous queer creatives + create a moment to honor reflections and community support. We offer you a look into what Indigenous queer people from around the world have been working on, where our minds have been as we flow through the seasons.

More about us:

River W. 

they/them

Hè, my name is River. I am Caddo, Lenape, and Irish. My mother is Terra Snyder and my father is Joseph Whittle. I grew up in Nimiipuu Territory and am currently in Tewa Territory. I identify as two-spirit within my community and am known as non-binary in western language. My Caddo people originally inhabited the four corners of the land that Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma occupy, and my Lenape people are primarily from the land that New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania occupy. I work in beading, photography, digital arts, video, clay, and I am learning metalworking, a tradition I hope to help revive for my people. 

Portrait by Hotvlkuce Harjo, @dommivera

Artwork by River W.

About my piece: 

My community of Lenape people are dispersed from our homelands on the east coast to Canada, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma. Many of us have never had the privilege to even visit our homelands. This year, I visited my homelands and the gifts of that trip continue to unfold. We were welcomed by Mohawk relatives who kept some songs for us and took some of us in when we were forced to flee. I was told that one of the squares in the Six Nations flag, included in their Hiawatha belt (made of wampum), was enlarged to include those of us who took refuge with them. I made this to honor them and our resilience as interdependent and multidimensional Indigenous peoples. That magic will get us through this time of the virus and colonial terror. We are ever present. I hope all our queer Indigenous relatives remember this in times of pain. Waníshi.

art/portfolio: miarw96.wixsite.com/natanehriver

Shop for phone cases, backpacks, prints: www.redbubble.com/people/caddoriver/shop?asc=u&ref=account-nav-dropdown

Shop for shirts + sweaters: www.bonfire.com/store/nataneh-river/

Instagram: @natanehriver 

Ty Blackwater

she/them

Yá’át’ééh shí éí Ty Blackwater yíníshyé’

Ádoone’é Tłaashch’í nishłį́

Béésh bich’ahii éí bá shíshchíín

Bit’ahnii éí dashicheii

Béésh bich’ahii éí dashinálí

Ya’at’eeh, shí k’é dóó shí dine’é, my name is Tyra (Ty)  Blackwater and I am from Tó’déé - Shiprock, New Mexico. I am Diné from the Red Bottom Cheeks and Between his Sleeves clans, born of German descent. I am a creative - my work includes poetry, beading, acting, graphic design and media. I am empowered to reclaim spaces for queer, femme and Indigenous youth, using art and poetry as a tool to promote the visibility of suppressed identities. I work to represent my relatives accurately in media and I hope to share this space with you all as a place for us to do just that. My work is inspired by my relations and the beauty of my homelands, I am taught by my relatives and I share my knowledge with them in return. 

Photo Courtesy of Tyra Blackwater

Photo Courtesy of Tyra Blackwater

I created the piece below in response to feeling lost in my community. Belonging is a complicated relationship for Native youth. We are constantly reminded that this world was not created for us. We suppress our identities to assimilate into society, creating unhealthy relationships with our own being, our culture and our relatives. We are oppressed by our own people and colonizers for being queer, outspoken and genuinely ourselves. We are sacred beings and we exist despite these forces. We belong to ourselves, our land and our ancestors.

Instagram: @tyblackwater + @blkseries

 support my art here https://www.etsy.com/shop/BLKSERIES

Artwork by Tyra Blackwater