Inchunwa Inchunwa Project

We've made it! This is our final episode of series three focusing on the experiences of folks who have received their traditional tattoos. In this episode we listen to an interview with Mvskoke artist and model Maddie Sanders. We're joined by guest hosts Heather Bryant (Cherokee) and Sierra Revas (Yuchi). In this episode we hear about Maddie bringing the Southeast to the Southwest, discuss how heather's tattoos have changed for them as they've become a mother, the importance of language and it's revitalization and more! 

For access to all the resources we've used for the Inchunwa podcast's research, check out the link tree in our bio on our instagram: instagram.com/inchunwa. Additionally I you're interested in joining our community research team, please email Lindsay Reeder @ inchunwaproject@gmail.com titled "research team". Finally if you'd like to financially support our project, become a Patreon at Patreon.com/inchunwa. 

ANNNNDD WE'RE BACK! In this episode  continue the third series where we speak with southeastern folks who have received and bear their traditional tattoos. This time we're speaking with guest Jenna Walkingstick (Cherokee) and guest hosts Lisa Fruichantie (Seminole/Mvskoke) and Angie Comeaux (Mvskoke/Choctaw). We cover a range of topics including Jenna and Lisa's experiences receiving and bearing traditional southeastern facial tattoos, positive and negative experiences around receiving traditional tattoos, body sovereignty, accountability, diversity in NDN country, interconnectedness to land and of tribal nations, the role of plants, and more! 

Additionally we make some major announcements:
Lisa Fruichantie has become the first Executive Director of Inchunwa!She'll be representing Inchunwa at the Bioneers conference in Berkeley Inchunwa will be at Indigi Pop X (IPX) April 12th-14th at the First American's Museum in Oklahoma City! We'll have a booth the whole time and will have educational and interactive activities - and maybe even a chance to experience what it might be like (briefly) to bear traditional designs. Like the Indigenous Futurisms Festival back in June of 2023, Brit'll be doing a live food demo on Saturday April 13th.  On Sunday April 14th, Inchunwa will host a panel with Chickasaw Artist Dustin Mater (@dustign); Cherokee Artist Keli Gonzales (@sideshow_kel); Cherokee & Mvskoke Tattoo Practitioner and Actress Nathalie Standingcloud (@nattatt8); Chickasaw Artist & Language Advocate  Faithlyn Seawright (@faithlyntaloaseawright); Mvskoke Artist & former Inchunwa podcast guest host Brit Postoak (@brittpostoak); Seminole elder & knowledge keeper David Frank; Seminole Nation member & Inchunwa Executive Director Lisa Fruichantie (@fruichantie), and Choctaw descendant and Inchunwa team member Brit Reed (@nitaohoyo). The panel will last for two hours with an intermission and a Q&A. Get your tickets at https://indigenouscomiccon.com/. In May, the Inchunwa Project leadership will be hosting a retreat focused on the design and build of our apprenticeship program. This closed gathering will include a diverse cross section of SE tribal culture bearers and wisdom keepers and made possible by a grant from the Southern Movement Media Fund.To celebrate officially stepping into the second phase of Inchunwa and the amazing things to come, we will be hosting a raffle that will begin Saturday March 23, 2024 and end Friday March 29th, 2024. This raffle is a two night stay at the Golden Moon Hotel & Casino in Choctaw, Mississippi. In addition to the two night stay at the Golden Moon Hotel & Casino, it includes dinner for two at Phillip M’s, Breakfast for two at The Bistro, and - most excitedly 1 round of golf for two at Dancing Rabbit Golf Club and/or Spa Treatment for two at The Spa. Raffle tickets are $20 eachProceeds will be going towards raising funds for the creation and development of the traditional tattoo apprenticeship program and building the Inchunwa Project admin & capacity structure for key items such as a website. Package can be used any time up to April 30th, 2024. As travel to Choctaw, MS will not be included, we encourage folks who live close enough to drive or are able to purchase airline tickets before April 30th, 2024 to participate. To purchase raffle tickets, go to our paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/inchunwaPlease include your email and social media handles in the description so that we can alert you if you win. 

In this episode, we are joined by guest co-host Colleen Billiot (Houma) to discuss the interview with Heather Bryan (Cherokee). This was one of the first interviews that we ever conducted when we began this project and have been anxiously awaiting when we could share it out with everyone. As with the previous guests in this third series, Heather shares their experience receiving and bearing traditional Cherokee tattoos as well as information regarding Cherokee and southeastern tattoos. Brit and Colleen discuss Heather's interview, revitalizing culture, climate change, tattoos, and more. 

Colleen Billiot  is a citizen of the United Houma Nation in southeast Louisiana. She co-founded and help run the Houma Language Project and revived a traditional gathering of my people a couple years back. Cultural reclamation and preservation tend to be her focus. She also teaches self-defense to women for free/low cost which she started doing due to the high rate of MMIW that she wrote on for a previous job.

Heather Bryan (Cherokee) was born and raised in Seminole lands aka South FL.  They are an artist, herbalist and mama with a degree in Sociology and women’s studies from the University of Central Florida where they were also involved in student organizing and social justice activism. 

You can find more information discussed in this episode and previous episodes on the Inchunwa instagram and the link tree link in the bio: instagram.com/inchunwa. Additionally if you'd like to help financially support the inchunwa project and podcast, you can become a patron: Patreon.com/inchunwa

Additional resources/links:


Heather: 
@fury.of.femme https://www.instagram.com/fury.of.femme/
@ginnyandbets https://www.instagram.com/ginnyandbets/


ᏓᏗᏬᏂᏏ (Dadiwonisi/We Will Speak)
@dadiwonisifilm https://www.instagram.com/dadiwonisifilm/


Colleen Billiot:
@curlynquirky https://www.instagram.com/curlynquirky/


Bvlblancha Collective:
@bvlbanchacollective https://www.instagram.com/bvlbanchacollective/?hl=en
https://www.bvlbanchacollective.com/


Tasso Time: 
https://sites.google.com/view/tasso-gathering

In this episode we are continuing our third series where we talk with southeastern folks who have received and bear their traditional tattoos. We are speaking with Isabella Aiukli Adams (Choctaw) regarding her experience. We are also joined by guest hosts Britt Postoak (Mvskoke) and Anja Littlecreek (Mvskoke).

Isabella Aiukli Cornell is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, and a young activist. She is the organizing member of Matriarch, and inter-tribal non-profit based in Oklahoma. In 2018, her Junior prom dress garnered national attention which highlighted the crisis of violence against Native women.
Isabella has been participating in activist movements against the epidemic of violence faced by Native American women and girls since the age of 14. She became an organizing member of Matriarch, an intertribal organization of women from different tribes, co-founded by Isabella's mother, Sarah Adams-Cornell.
Isabella Aiukli Cornell made a strong political statement at her prom in 2018 with a red dress bearing symbols of her Choctaw heritage. Cornell worked closely with the designer, Della Bighair-Stump, an indigenous designer belonging to Crow tribe, to create the applique design. The dress is a symbol of many indigenous women who have disappeared or have been murdered but never accounted for.
Isabella also created the skirt that Deb Haaland wore at the inauguration of President Joe Biden. She now runs Aiukli Designs - creating ribbon skirts for folks to wear.

If you've not yet listened to our first series, we encourage you to do so as it will deepen the conversation in this episode and all episode since the start of series two. The first series covers the history of native people in the US and southeastern peoples specifically. Additionally, series one discusses the intersections between southeastern tattoo history, mainstream tattoo history, and colonization. 

If you'd like to support our work and get access to early releases of episodes, a look behind the scenes, access to mini-sodes & unreleased  interviews, access to Patreon exclusive merch, become a patron. You can sign up by going to Patreon.com/inchunwa. 

Isabella Aiukli Adams: 
@aiukli: https://www.instagram.com/aiukli/@aiuklidesigns https://www.instagram.com/aiuklidesigns/@aiuklimodels: https://www.instagram.com/aiukli_models/Brit Postoak: 
Britt Postoak: @brittpostoak https://www.instagram.com/brittpostoak/The show Britt will be in at Santa Fe Indian Market: https://www.instagram.com/keepersofthelandexhibit/Anja Littlecreek: 
@mvtothreads https://www.instagram.com/mvto.threads/Inchunwa:
@inchunwa https://www.instagram.com/inchunwa/http://facebook.com/inchunwa

Halito everyone! This month we are breaking away from our usual and accustomed series 3 content and bringing to ya'll the recording that we made earlier this month of the discussion on traditional tattoo revitalization and futurity at the Indigenous Futurism Festival Northwest in Tacoma, WA at Alma. Believe it or not, this was the first time an Inchunwa episode was recorded all in one location. We were so grateful to have traditional tattoo practitioners Hotvlkuce Harjo (Mvskoke) and Michaela Taylor (Yupik) join us for the discussion. In this, we discussed some topics we've covered over the coarse of the Inchunwa podcast - as well as some topics we've not yet been able to cover such as: perspective of Southeastern artists incorporating traditional tattoos in to their art & tattoo practitioners. 


Due to the nature of live recordings, there may be some background noise. We will be releasing this panel discussion unedited - so there may be a higher frequency of “ums, likes, ya’knows” and longer pauses. Usually this is something we'd edit out, but we wanted to make sure we were able to get ya'll access to the recording ASAP. 


Additional Links:
Josué Rivas for the photos:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/josue_foto/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/indigena/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/indigenastudios/
Inchunwa:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/inchunwa/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/inchunwa
Hotvlkuce Harjo:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/dommivera/
Michaila Taylor:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/mnkonigt/
DJ Libbi:
IG: ​​https://www.instagram.com/dj_libbi/
Alma Tacoma (native run restaurant & venue space):
IG: https://www.instagram.com/almatacoma/
Website: https://almatacoma.com/
IndigiPopX:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/indigipop_x/
Website: https://www.indigipopx.com/
Watch the World Series of Stickball (WSS) live from Mississippi during Choctaw Days: https://www.youtube.com/@mbciworldseriesstickball2557/streams

In this episode we will continue our third series where we talk with folks who have already received and bear their traditional tattoos in order to gain further insight into what it's like. We'll be speaking with Sarah Adams-Cornell (Choctaw). Sarah lives in Oklahoma City and is the Co-Founder of Matriarch Non-Profit and the Vice President of the Sovereign Community School Board.  She serves on several other boards including the ACLU of Oklahoma, Not Your Mascot, Live Indigenous OK, and is a member of the Central Oklahoma Two Spirit Society.

During this episode we will also be joined by guest hosts Nico Williams (Cherokee) and Lisa McCaul (Choctaw). We're excited to have Nico and Lisa guest host so that we can broaden the conversation about what folks in Southeastern communities - both in Oklahoma and the diaspora are thinking about surrounding the revitalization of traditional tattoos. 

If you've not yet listened to our first series, go ahead and take a listen. The first series will take you through the history of Southeastern Natives, Natives in general, and its intersections with tattoo history. Many of our guests will reference things such as boarding school, relocation, and more. The first series will help you to understand the history being mentioned in the episode to gain a deeper understanding of what is being discussed in this interview and all our other interviews. 


Links to things mentioned in episode:
-Inchunwa: https://www.instagram.com/inchunwa/
- Sarah Adams-Cornell: https://www.instagram.com/sarahadams_405/
-Matriarch Ok: https://www.instagram.com/matriarch_ok/
-Nico Williams: https://www.instagram.com/auntie_nico/
-Burning Cedar Sovereign Wellness: https://www.instagram.com/burningcedartulsa/
-Lisa McCaul: https://www.instagram.com/seawhich47/
-Lisa Fruichantie: https://www.instagram.com/fruichantie/
-Alma Tacoma: https://almatacoma.com https://www.instagram.com/almatacoma/
-ᏓᏗᏬᏂᏏ (Dadiwonisi/We Will Speak)Film: https://www.instagram.com/dadiwonisifilm/
-Keli Gonzales: https://www.instagram.com/sideshow_kel/
-Hotvlkuce Harjo: https://www.instagram.com/dommivera/
-Michaila Taylor: https://www.instagram.com/mnkonigt/
-Rubia and Demetria Buck (quillwork/beadwork): https://www.sotascowidesigns.com https://www.instagram.com/sotascowidesigns/
-Quannah Chasinghorse: https://www.instagram.com/quannah.rose/
-Nathalie Standingcloud: https://www.instagram.com/nattatt8/

-Indigi Pop X (Indigenous Futurism Festival NW) : https://www.indigipopx.com/ https://www.instagram.com/indigipop_x/
-Red Eagle Soaring: https://www.instagram.com/redeaglesoaring/ https://www.wagives.org/organization/Red-Eagle-Soaring
-DJ Libbi: https://www.instagram.com/dj_