How are Indigenous street artists using mural painting, graffiti, billboards, and other mediums to build community and draw attention to issues meaningful to them? Join River Garza (Tongva), Melissa Govea (Purépecha), and Reyna Hernandez (Yankton Sioux) as they discuss their personal and cultural inspirations as well as other influences on their practices, such as the importance of place and why they are drawn to work in the public sphere.
River T. Garza (Tongva) is an Indigenous interdisciplinary visual artist based out of Los Angeles, CA. His art draws on traditional Indigenous aesthetics, Southern California Indigenous maritime culture, graffiti, skateboarding, and low-rider art. Garza's work can be found in private and permanent collections such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Autry Museum of the American West, and the IAIA Museum of American Indian Arts.
Melissa Govea (Purépecha) is a multidisciplinary creative raised in Yangna-occupied Tongva territory, also known as South Central Los Angeles. She specializes in traditional sign painting and screen printing, and her work is heavily rooted in her culture and lived experiences. Govea trained under journeyman sign painter Doc Guthrie at Los Angeles Trade Tech. She learned screen printing at Self Help Graphics, where she was also the youth curator for Native environmental group Honor the Earth’s The Art of Indigenous Resistance. Govea leads multigenerational workshops that emphasize social movements and applying mediums such as lettering, muralism, and screen printing.
Reyna Hernandez (Yankton Sioux) is a painter and muralist from southeast South Dakota who feels a deep connection to her homelands and Indigenous roots. She utilizes mixed media to investigate cultural/identity hybridity in relation to her Indigenous bloodlines and Western influences. Her art examines the complexities of her relationship to culture and place and is heavily inspired by the many star quilters in her family history. Through her work, Hernandez explores Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota traditions and symbolism and the many ways that Western civilization has impacted Indigenous expression.
In English with Spanish subtitles. Closed captioning is available by clicking the CC button at the bottom of your screen. For Spanish captioning, go to settings to select the language.
Youth in Action: Conversations about Our Future is an online series hosted by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian. These moderated panel discussions serve as a national platform to amplify the efforts of Native changemakers from across the Western Hemisphere who are engaged in civic and social justice work for Indigenous peoples.