Waabishki Giiwedin

am an Anishinaabe artist.
I work with birch bark because it remembers us.
Birch bark is not just a material, it is a relative. Our people used it to carry water, build canoes, make containers, record stories, and protect medicines. It is a teacher of patience and respect. You don’t take birch bark, you ask. You listen. You take only what is given and leave the tree standing.
When I work with birch bark, I am working with the breath of the land and the knowledge of my ancestors. Every line holds memory. Every piece carries responsibility.
I also work with beads. Beadwork is language. It holds prayers, identity, and survival. Our designs carry teachings passed through generations — even when our people were punished for being who we are, the beads kept speaking.
I am Waabishki Giiwedin Ikwe (White North Wind Woman) citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. The north wind is strength and clarity. It carries change, but it also carries truth. That is how I create.
My art is not trend or aesthetic. It is continuity. It is resistance. It is love for the people who came before me and responsibility to those still coming.
I create so our stories are not erased.
I create so the land is honored.
I create because our culture is alive.