Seeking Justice for Our Sisters

COMMUNITY NEWS Seeking Justice for Our Sisters

Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery • May 3-5

The Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery announce a collaboration with the American Indian Resource Center at UC Santa Cruz to support their virtual event series, “Seeking Justice for Our Sisters,” May 3-5.

View the exhibit at https://art.ucsc. edu/sesnon/mmiwg.

In Honor of Our Sisters collects photographs and narratives from Indigenous UC Santa Cruz students about important Indigenous women in their lives be they family members, community figures, activists, or political leaders. This exhibition was inspired by the REDress public art project by Jaime Black that raises awareness about the staggering numbers of missing and murdered Aboriginal women across Canada.

The American Indian Resource Center hosts an annual event in honor of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls on May 5.

Here is an excerpt from the exhibit by Jemzi Ortiz, a 2019 UC Santa Cruz graduate who is Northern Cheyenne:

Rest in Peace Great Grandma Nathel. Rest in Peace Otissey

The Cheyenne are a matriarchal society. The women lead and guide us, feed and nourish us; they created us. My great grandma Nathel Kitty Bell Fisher Show (Mo’oheme’ehn’e — Elk Appears Woman) had 8 children, 24 grandchildren, 44 great-grandchildren, and 3 great, great grandchildren. I am one of her 44 greatgrandchildren so was my cousin Otissey.

Grandma Nathel passed away in 2020 due to COVID-19. This horrible disease has taken too many of our elders and knowledge holders and it took my greatgrandma away from my family too soon.

Grandma Nathel was preceded in death by her parents, her 2 sisters and my sweet cousin, Kayanna Otissey Gonzalez. Otissey was stolen from our family at the young age of 21 in 2019. My family is still seeking justice for her murder and trying to heal from the wounds of her passing. I can only hope that my great-grandma Nathel and my cousin Otissey are together again.

Today, I am living in what is now known as Santa Cruz, the unceded territory of the Awaswas-speaking Uypi Tribe. I live near Mission Santa Cruz where I take walks to and think of the Native people who once lived there. My picture is to honor the Indigenous women who were affected by the missions. I have not forgotten them. n

Jemzi Ortiz • REDress Project

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