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Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren recently signed an executive order directing all schools with Navajo students, whether on or off the Navajo Nation, to allow them to wear traditional regalia at their commencement ceremonies.
This comes after a Farmington (N.M.) Municipal Schools graduating senior, Geneses White Bull (Hunkpapa Lakota of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe), was ordered to surrender her beaded mortarboard and had it replaced with a plain one to match those of other graduates.
White Bull’s mortarboard was cut with scissors by an administrator, according to her mother Brenda White bull, after White Bull refused to remove it herself.
President Nygren says the executive order is a way to take care of Native students and to show them the respect, especially at a special time like a high school graduation.
Earlier this month, the 2024 Fellowship Convening, sponsored by the First People’s Fund (FPF), was held in Santa Fe, N.M.
Every year, through invitation only, the FPF fellows gather together to be a part of workshops that help with financial assistance and guidance, and enhancing entrepreneurial skills of Indigenous artists and cultural practitioners.
One of the fellows is George Alexander, a Muscogee Creek artist living in Santa Fe.
He says growing up, his parents were very sick and he often spent a lot of time in the hospital with them.
“So we would be in and out of the hospital a lot. We didn’t have a lot of money, so my mom would give me a stack of copy paper and pencils, and I would draw to pass the time.”
As Alexander got older, he started to do graffiti style art, and in school, would make money by drawing art for his school mates.
At the young age of 14 years old, Alexander would go on to be a tattoo artist through his early 20s until he made the decision to join the military.
But what Alexander soon realized throughout his life is, things don’t always go as planned.
“Shortly after high school, I wanted to get into the military, but I had a small complication with my heart. It never bothered me or anything. It was PDA. But it was a liability. And the military couldn’t take.”
Discouraged, and lost on what direction to take, his aunt told him about a program called the Institute of American Indian arts.
“She was like, ‘You know you’ve always been into art, so why don’t you try this since you can’t go into the military?’ So when I enroll, and when I got there it was really nice. Everybody is kind of like the same. We all come from different parts of Indian country and we’re all there. It was really easy to make friends, and I tried it out, and it was spectacular.”
Alexander graduated in 2015 with his bachelor’s in fine arts with emphasis in studio art.
He then went on to get a Master’s Degree at the Studio Art College International in Florence Italy. He’s now a well known artist, with his own studio in Santa Fe.
This is Alexander’s first year attending Fellowship Convening and says becoming part of the First People’s Fund is something to be taken very seriously.
“Whenever you do get it, keep in mind that you’re representing the First People’s Fund, you’re a fellow. That kind of means something, so don’t act like a fool.”
Alexander’s next step in his career is to put on shows in Los Angeles, and the Santa Fe Indian Art market, showcasing his work, and meeting with other Indigenous artists.
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