CREATIVE INDIGENOUS COLLECTIVE

Ben Pease – Gina Still Smoking – Holly Young – John Isaiah Pepion – Lauren Monroe- Louis Still Smoking – Robert Martinez

“The Indigenous viewpoint is important in virtually every culture across the world. The Contemporary Indigenous viewpoint is a facet that is most often overlooked or forgotten. There is a myriad of non-indigenous art about or depicting indigenous culture that focuses on stereotypical or romanticized imagery. We as the CIC look to provide awareness and intellectual creation to adjust the expectation of so-called “Indian” Art. Our work will focus on the Contemporary creations of beauty and resilience which our cultures have consistently implemented simply to continue existing. We seek to simply educate and share our unique perspective in both historical and contemporary society.”

The Creative Indigenous Collective has been formed to represent the education and promotion of Indigenous creativity. The CIC encourages creation via traditional art forms, cultural art, technological development, and the distribution and implementation of such knowledge. Genres include but are not limited to visual arts, music, culinary arts, spoken word, creative writing, dance, performance, fashion, design, oral history, computer technology, and environmental art. In many communities around the world, Indigenous art has been overlooked by Western paradigm, when in fact, the Indigenous Peoples’ are the original creatives who require respect via representation. The scope of the CIC is to deliver said representation in communities through event production, exhibition, conference, discussion, academic forum, collaboration and public engagement. This representation will provide validity towards Indigenous creativity through edification while redefining the adopted Western paradigm.