Tori McConnell

Growing up, Tori was involved in arts of many forms including musical performance, singing, and visual arts. During college Tori’d artwork started gaining special recognition for her art activism for the Undamming of the Klamath River and in recent years she has been developing her digital art style and traditional basketry. She obtained her B.A. in Native American Studies from University of California, Davis and is currently a Master’s student at Cal Poly Humbolt while serving as the reigning 2023-24 Miss Indian World.

“I am from the spawning ground
It’s the one that we all know
At one time or another
We all swam from the same hole …”

Written by our local elder Brian D. Tripp, these words all of us can feel in our chest, in our souls. These days, many young people will leave our homelands to go to college, start a career, grow. But we stay connected regardless of obstacles, time or distance. Like the salmon, with the salmon, because of the salmon… we always return home. To the mountains, the river, the creeks, our families… the spawning ground.