MAXIHIKIO
CITIZEN POTAWATOMI NATION, WINNEBAGO TRIBE, MESKWAKI NATION, NARRAGANSETT INDIAN TRIBE, POMO FROM ROUND VALLEY INDIAN TRIBES, PONCA TRIBE OF OKLAHOMA, AND CHICKASAW NATION
AGE: 17
I am currently a high school senior living in northern Virginia, but originally from southwest Colorado. I am a proud member of the Citizen Band Potawatomi, but I also have ancestry from six other tribes. I am also a proud two-spirit man. My art focuses on re-imagining traditional Native art into contemporary pieces, either by using photos and art from my family as inspiration or material. Themes from my art tend to focus on gender, family, tradition, trauma, and urban assimilation.
I was inspired by the old portraits of my grandma and her sisters, along with her mom, hanging in my living room. The pictures range from portraits to a postcard of my great grandma and one of her children, with the title, “ Indian with papoose”. I wanted to emphasize the idea that Native people were always looked on for novelty, emphasized by Natives not gaining citizenship till 1924. I wanted to have my own self portrait, but I decided to use collage as a background to show my own interests and values, but my portrait displaying my indigeneity foremost.
