“Santa Clara Pueblo.” New Mexico Tourism Department, www.newmexico.org/native-culture/native-communities/santa-clara-pueblo/. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.

Jonathan Vigil, personal photo- Taken by Dyami Candelaria, Sept.23,2024

“Tesuque Pueblo.” New Mexico Tourism Department, www.newmexico.org/native-culture/native-communities/tesuque-pueblo/. 

        In Sharing One Skin, Jeannete Armstrong talks about our deep connections to the land and everything around us, along with how all of the different aspects relate to our functions, thoughts, and action as one self. Within the Okanagan people, One Self is defined in four parts, Physical self, Emotion self, Thinking-intellectual self, and Spiritual self.

 Physical self is more than just you, it is about what makes up you. Your flesh, bone, and blood all function just like the earth's land, sky, and water does.  The Emotional self is to be one with others and one with our surroundings, which creates a bond that builds our wholeness and wellbeing. This is the self that is from the heart. The Thinking-intellectual is where you must think about your actions and how they may affect those you speak to or surround you with. ¨ A thought is like a spark to a flame. If you have to many the flame is going to be bigger, causing a fire (Destruction) if not used right.¨ The Spiritual self is all about how we live and put ourselves into the world with our actions. This self also is about what we do with the knowledge that was given to us, and where the most valuable place that knowledge can be applied. ( Pages 462-464.¨Sharing One Skin¨, Jeannette Armstrong) I believe the cultural aspect of our ancestors living within and off the environment is what kept them rooted to the teachings of how to utilize the land and live off the land in the most respectful and correct way.

Sharing One Skin

Armstrong, Jeanette. “Sharing One Skin: The Okanagan Community,” in Jerry Mander and Edward

Goldsmith (eds), The Case Against the Global Economy. San Francisco, CA, Sierra Club Books, 1996. Pp 460-470.

 In And then I went to school, Joe Suina mentions how before going to school being at home is where the culture was thriving and felt he had a place in this world along with the feeling of safety & comfort. After  schooling, going home felt off and lots of things were harder to comprehend as the language was washed away and replaced with english. This feeling Joe had was very negative and ¨painful to experience¨. Joe Suina later explains the culture loss that occurred during the boarding school era along with language loss, and the change of the environment of our communities as Native Americans. Many of these problems affect all natives today as lots of the language is lost. The main reason why everything gets lost is because our culture is fully tied to language and if you can speak it you have no knowledge of what is really important in our lives. I believe our culture can be saved if we as the new generation by keeping ourselves rooted to our traditional teachings and stress to keep the language up. Our elders preach this every time to us natives to remind us how important our way of life is to us and how sacred knowledge can benefit us in many ways.

And Then I Went to School

Suina, Joseph “And I went to school” memories of a pueblo childhood,”. New Mexico Journal of Reading, Winter 1985, Vol. V, No.2.

    From my reading of the article How place names impact the way we see landscape, mentions how memories and stories connect to landscape through the events that happened before like someone finding lands and claiming them as their land to be named after them, or an event that may have taken place there at one point in time. Many places in this world that are recognised are either named after an individual, the name of the event that took place there like a battle or discovery, and the nature features of the location/ landscape.(HighCountryNew Atricle.9/1/22). Stories can also be tied to a place through the cultural significance the place has or animals that highly populated the area. All of our stories as native are all about the land and as native people we incorporate place into everything.

How place names impact the way we see landscape

Toastie, B. “How place names impact the way we see landscape.” High Country News:    Know the West, 1 May 2022, https://www.hcn.org/issues/54.5/people-places-how-place-names-impact- the-way-we-see-landscape.

When it comes down to the history of graffiti and street art, it dates back to hundred of years ago when our ancestors were creating petroglyphs on the walls of our canyons and walls of our communities when we lived in cave dwellings. Many cultures used petroglyphs as a way to spread a message, tell stories, and for ceremonial use. Every symbol used has its own meaning and is connected to a time in history where everything our ancestors saw or went through then. (“Why Were Petroglyphs Made?” Admin, 6th june 2022, https://www.rockngem.com/why-were -petroglyphs-made/. Accessed 6th Oct 2024).

The connection I have made to petroglyphs is simply through my own ancestors using large walls of a cliff to spread the message of our people, with symbols that represent important things in our culture, Designs that are used in our traditional clothing, and cultural knowledge. This form of art is the storytelling side of it and is not only used in petroglyphs but in pottery as well. 

(“Why Were Petroglyphs Made?”)

Works Cited

“Why Were Petroglyphs Made?” Admin, 6th june 2022, https://www.rockngem.com/why-were-petroglyphs-made/. Accessed 6th Oct 2024.

Graffiti and murals are more than just paint on a wall. It is the people and the word of the people being put out there is being changed to what has not been and to continue all those cultural practices while passing them down the generational line. The artwork that we put to display for all to see is the footprint of our traditional practices that we apply to spread a message or display beautiful artwork to spread positivity in a community.Sharing and preserving cultural knowledge this way will keep up the teachings of the importance of our language and Cultural revitalization. Art is also the road to healing as Native American have used it for coping with our historical trauma we have all faced. Art for Native Americans has been the way to tell the story of what we as natives have been through and how we are still standing to today. Using symbols and Designs is the way we as Native Americans communicate to the world and express ourselves. Art has also been the way Native American identify themselves as a person.  Lots of contemporary art today is all about identifying yourself and opening the eyes to others who may not know what the feeling is like. Giving a visual of the way someone is thinking or the way they are thinking. Portraying the true identity of someone, and just seeing how moved one could be to construct such art. (“Reviving Roots: Street Art's Connection to Indigenous Cultures – Street Buddha.” Street Buddha, 25 July 2023). 

(“Reviving Roots: Street Art's Connection to Indigenous Cultures – Street Buddha”)Works Cited“Reviving Roots: Street Art's Connection to Indigenous Cultures – Street Buddha.” Street Buddha, 25 July 2023, https://thestreetbuddha.com/reviving-roots-street-arts-connection-to-indigenous-cultures/. Accessed 8 October 2024.

The idea of identity in our cultures is very big due to the fact that our culture represents who you are and what you believe and if it could help other people to share that knowledge so that is so our culture will continue to thrive. Native Americans for a very long time have used art and everything and it is the way to get our messages out to the people because the people have to see first in order to act upon. Art through graffiti and muralism is its own style in itself and very interesting to see how we as natives can tie our culture to a way of modern day pop culture. Native Americans have been fully influenced by today's hip hop culture and a lot of the native art today incorporates many of today's modern art styles. Music is today's main source of how people express themselves and many artists have been influenced by the way many of these musical artists feel and the message they spread to the world. Emotion plays a big role in the composure of art and is the main reason people compose art in the first place. All of the emotions that are captured on the canvas, create an image of the person. (Healey, G. A. (2016). American Indian graffiti muralism: Survivance and geosemantic signposts in the American cityscape). 

A personal connection that I have made was the involvement in the cultural emergence in American culture by taking my traditional knowledge of storytelling through drawing and street art by displaying it in the work I do today. I show great interest in pop culture and how natives are being recognized and making a name for themselves, their nations and their people with the art or music they are creating.

Survivance and geosemantic signposts in the American cityscape

Healey, G. A. (2016). American Indian graffiti muralism: Survivance and geosemantic signposts in the American cityscape (Order No. 10110992). Available from Ethnic NewsWatch. (1797593373). Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/american-indian-graffiti-muralism-survivance/docview/1797593373/se-2

 The Inuit people of Alaska have this very unique and cool tradition of tattooing the people's story of their life onto themselves to share experiences that they gone through to be who they are. Like many traditional artists  there is a very great significance to the designs and patterns used in the work. The tattoos depict different points in a person's life to tell the story of what they have overcome to achieve their life. These tattoos can symbolize the life being lived or the memorial of another, but the tattoos (tunniit)  mainly tell the stories of those who are wearing them. The traditional tattooing of the Inuit people is some kind of write-a-passage tradition. This tradition is slowly dying but it is  the Inuit people's mission to carry on this very sacred tradition by either becoming a tattoo artist or the storyteller of the people to pass on the sacred knowledge. These tattoos are either done traditionally with a stick or a tattooing gun. The revitalization and preservation of culture is through art and this is one of my missions when getting the Class to express themselves in this world in traditional ways of life. This is keeping up the Sacred traditions we all have and mean so much to all of us Indigenous peoples. Sharing stories of ourselves amongst each other will give us all those connections to one another, strengthening our bonds as a class and bringing us together. I would encourage this way of connecting in your communities as well.

Johnston, Angela Hovak, editor. Reawakening Our Ancestors' Lines: Revitalizing Inuit Traditional Tattooing. Inhabit Media Incorporated, 2017.

 Graffiti in Brazil is one of the most bright and vibrant artwork out there. Lots of the artwork is very beautiful and portrays very important messages, whether it may be memorializing a loved one showing off the many folklore of the Portuguese people,  or a very interesting way of tagging that is used as a language amongst the Portuguese artists. There are lots of colorful murals that often portray the voiced  concerns of the poverty the people of Brazil are going through or showing off very beautiful talented artwork. Graffiti is one of the biggest ways people of Brazil Express themselves, Express hardship, and show art with  culture and corporated into showing the folklore art and telling the stories of the Portuguese people. Pixacao Is the most common graffiti style of Brazil which is a form of coded, encrypted tagging. symbols were used instead of words; this is a tradition amongst the many artists of Brazil.

The connection between my topic and this article reading is within the way the deeper feelings and emotions that are put into the art along with the expression on the major problems occurring in the cities really, shows how artists express themselves freely. There's also lots of traditional language being used in the graffiti and the many art styles in Brazil.

When Art Matters the Most: Brazil Graffiti-Widewallshttps://www.widewalls.ch › magazine › part-2

Prison  tattoos also tell the stories of the people who are wearing them.  Many designs of symbols all have a unique representation or meaning to a person and the placement of the tattoo also plays a major role. One very common symbol used in many ways is a cross. a cross could either be memorializing a loved one, for protection, or a sign of new beginnings after overcoming hardships. The ink tells us everything from what they have been through to what they have seen to what they represent themselves as. Prison tattoos serve as a visual diary that reflects on the significance of life and the many events and relationships that have been made within that time.

The biggest connection made was President tattoos to Graffiti is the great use of Storytelling and how the different words, symbols, designs, even placement all have a special meaning to the people either composing or wearing the art. All these different aspects play a very important role and have a deep meaning to someone. the expression of yourself also goes into bold pieces/ styles of artwork. The self-expression used in both of these styles really tells the viewer  what they are looking at or what to perceive it as.