Belongings

The work I do, always with others, tendrils into and across communities that are presently situated on the unceded lands of countless indigenous nations. I make my own home on the land of the Dakota, near Bde Maka Ska, where the village of Heyata Otunwe once thrived. As the Dakota insist, this land belongs to them, not because they or anyone should have the right to own it, but because they belong to the land. In order to support efforts to rematriate Dakota lands, I pay a voluntary land tax to Makoce Ikikcupi. Makoce Ikikcupi, meaning Land Recovery, is a project of Reparative Justice on Dakota land in Minisota Makoce (Minnesota). The Makoce Ikikcupi project seeks to bring relatives home, re-establish spiritual and physical relationship with homeland, and ensure the ongoing existence of the Dakota People. If you would like to know more about voluntary land tax, please connect with me.

I also want to acknowledge the long, often invisible history of artists and activists that allow for the possibility of my own neurodivergent work. Their creativity, survival, and resourcefulness has lighted crucial pathways through the darkness of capitalist, ableist, and White supremacist anti-culture. That these light keepers have often been disabled, neurodivergent, BIPOC, queer, and genderqueer is not coincidental. Desiring to celebrate and sustain this tradition, I support organizations like Sins Invalid and individual artists like adrienne maree brown, D Allen, Merle Geode, and Rubin Hardin. I also support organizations like I-ASC and CommunicationFirst, working to create new pathways for nonspeaking communication and justice.