Arigon Featured in Indigenous Speaker Series
We love when Arigon shows up in unexpected places.
Author and advocate, Dr. Debbie Reese, recommended Arigon as a speaker for a lecture series hosted by Santa Fe’s Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. Arigon was thrilled to participate and prepared her own video at the Rezium Studios in Los Angeles.
“I’m so thankful for technology, especially in these horrible COVID-19 days,” said Arigon. “It was simple enough to use my tablet to tape and send answers to some very compelling questions.”
Here’s the blurb from the museum:
Last month, we launched MIAC’s November speaker series, “Indigenous Storytelling in Art and Literature,” co-hosted by Deputy Director Dr. Matthew Martinez (Ohkay Owingeh) and Curatorial Assistant Lillia McEnaney. See the link at the bottom of this post to watch the final installment of this series. According to Dr. Reese, (Nambé Owingeh), less than 1% of children’s books published in the United States include American Indian characters or authors. These conversations are an extension of MIAC’s ongoing work with local schools and educators, and is meant to serve as a resource for New Mexicans to learn about Indigenous communities throughout the Southwest.
Our final speaker is Arigon Starr (Kickapoo). Arigon Starr is a Kickapoo singer, actor, playwright, and comic book writer known for her one-woman shows. She has won numerous awards for her music, art, and plays, including the Native American Music Awards for Best Independent Recording in 1999 and Songwriter of the Year in 2007. In 2016, Starr edited the graphic novel “Tales of the Mighty Code Talkers,” which was named one of the American Library Association’s 2018 Great Graphic Novels for Teens. Starr has stated that her writings are intended to counter negative Indigenous stereotypes. She is the first Native American woman to have her own record label: “Wacky Productions” and has created four albums under this label.
