When NDN Collective builds Indigenous power, this work includes our artists and culture bearers who provide important visuals and messaging that propels our demands forward. Creativity and expression is essential to movements everywhere and without it, we could not be as effective in creating meaningful change in the world.
āArtists are the linkage and interpreters of the past, present and future. The work of creative resistance brings our movements to life and these movements have a direct impact on the lives of our people and Mother Earth,ā said Nick Tilsen, NDN Collective Founder & CEO āEvery single time we do creative resistance work we teach, train, share skills, build relationships and leave art embedded in frontline communities. Doing this work creates a more vibrant and inclusive movement that contributes to creating the conditions for effective organizing and revolutionary change.ā
Our Creative Resistance Team is the arts in activism branch of NDN Collective. We work to empower Indigenous communities by helping them build the skills and tools they need to tell their own story and create their narrative. This includes art used in actions and, to locally based art that empowers and illustrates them to the values of each community. The Creative Resistance team teaches skills like screenprinting, bannermaking, wheatpasting, as well as rope access and much more depending on the communityās needs and the teamās capacity. We aim to develop a group of trainers who are consistently committed to helping us teach these important and necessary skills.
āCreative Resistance brings in and encompasses all the tactics that make an action effective. Itās about how to creatively set the bar each time. You have to think strategically together about the ways to tell a story the way it should be told,ā said Cy Wagoner, Creative Resistance Director for NDN Collective.
Our team engages relatives from all over Turtle Island and beyond. The connection between communities is undoubtedly one of our biggest strengths. We have fostered connections in communities in South Dakota, Minnesota, Arizona, New Mexico, Hawaiāi, Alaska, California, Georgia, and Mexico. All of these places have existing movement-based relationships, grantee partners, and community partners. Each community has a very different environment that is impacted differently by climate change and it was important for our team to see the ways these communities create solutions within their respective areas. Settler colonialism has manifested differently in these places and we wanted to intentionally select lands that illustrate the diversity and impact of the work based on what kinds of organizing and creative resistance is needed for meaningful change.
These places are extremely diverse, how Indigenous Peoples are impacted by settler colonialism is diverse, and therefore the self-determination of these communities is going to be diverse and the work our organization does there should be led by the people themselves.
Although all branches of NDN Collective connect with many of the same communities, today we want to share how our Creative Resistance team connects, engages and partners with these communities.
Creative Resistance is the visual representation of the LANDBACK movement. Indigenous artists and culture bearers were among the first to interpret and connect the LANBACK narrative to the many issues Indigenous Peoples and communities face.
Our team helps create the visuals that portray the vital messaging to the larger audience via quick messaging on banners, picket signs, etc. Creative Resistance has set up temporary art studios in open fields, conference rooms, office spaces, on the streets to unused buildings to accomplish these remote art build goals and requests. We bring the gear and equipment to get the job done, even if we have to change spaces to do so.
Our audiences may recognize our designs out in the world, including several designs surrounding the release of Leonard Peltier. Perhaps one of the most notable being a large scale 22ft by 100ft banner deployed outside of the White House on September 12, 2023 as a call for Leonard Peltierās freedom. This banner was large enough for people to hold up over their heads and create a bolder, louder message.
Creative Resistance as a concept has a long and deep history in direct action. People engage in creative resistance often without even realizing it. Protestors who make cardboard signs with markers are all actively engaging in activism art. These forms of art are meant to be accessible no matter the budget. Any form of messaging at an action is considered a part of creative resistance. Putting our needs and demands into palatable formats for the general public to digest quickly is a key part of action art and is essential to accomplishing our goals. As a movement-building organization, NDN Collective recognized there was a need for such a team to be developed as an integral part of making our messages impactful and efficient.
Wheatpaste has been used in Non-Violent Direct Action for decades. Itās a way to spread awareness to a cause far and wide, quickly. This has been a huge tool in campaigning messaging in an eye catching and impactful way. The presence of wheatpaste as a movement tool dates back to the 1960s. It allows us to spread our message in a way that will withstand time. Wheatpaste uses paste and paper to attach the design to any surface, similar to wallpaper.
In order to complete a large scale project our team orders custom printed newsprint of the agreed photo design. These sheets are typically 3×8 feet. Wheatpaste is a user-friendly medium and allows relatives of all ages to get involved. The paste does not cause damage to the surface so it serves as a low risk and temporary tactic in spreading awareness. Wheatpaste is community accessible as there are ways to make your own paste at home, or you can buy wallpaper paste in store. We aim to teach accessible skills to communities so they are able to continue utilizing these skills for years to come.
In March of 2024 the Creative Resistance team connected with Amy Juan (Tohono Oāodham), a 2021 NDN Changemaker Fellow, at the San Xavier Co-op Farm in Tucson, Arizona. This co-op runs a farm based on food sovereignty teachings and educates their community on traditional food harvesting, care, and preparation. Their farm had two water tanks that were visible from one of their communityās main roads. These served as perfect locations for imagery reflecting the peopleās history and current work. This collaboration was a largescale wheatpasting project covering two medium size water tanks, one was 48ā ft around and 11ā ft high, the other was smaller at 29ā ft around by 10ā ft high.
Each community project has its own unique and intimate tie to the peopleās roots. Over months of prep and collaboration, Amy Juan let us know she really wanted to show the history of food sovereignty on their land and how long their practices have been passed down. The murals were a multitude of photos collaged together to create a visual journey through the farmās story. The photos were black and white showing the hard work that goes into running a farm of this size and how community connection is the foundation of food sovereignty.
We arrived at the farm with a warm welcome from the workers and community members. Our curriculum included two days of in class teaching with design, materials, process, and prep information before people get to hands on work for the following days.
The weather was cold and windy, which posed its own challenges for applying the wheatpaste. Many people from the community showed their support when driving by, some even stopping in and recognized their relatives in the photos on the water tanks. This is the type of connection we aim for when weāre invited to communities, we want community members to have a true connection to the images and messages we use. Our team works in collaboration with the needs of the community so they truly feel empowered in this new skill, to hopefully reapply new messages in the future.
In a society that discourages our communities from connecting with one another, these projects are a tool in achieving unity and connectedness through hands-on work and visuals that resonate with the community lifeway.
The work of our team in training different communities and skill-sharing around Turtle Island and beyond is at the heart of NDN Collectiveās mission: building Indigenous movements. Connecting our people through creative action is what leads to Indigenous power. Our team is excited to continue fostering the relationships and connections built through this work and we hope that these skills not only empower our relatives to create but demonstrates the medicine of teaching and sharing. This work is not just for a handful of individuals, creativity lives in our history, in our ancestors, it is in our DNA.
To learn more about the Creative Resistance Team visit our website: https://ndncollective.org/creative-resistance/
Are you an Indigenous artist inspiring liberated futures within your community? Check out our Radical Imagination Grant to see if you are eligible to apply for our upcoming application period.
To learn how you can help rematriate resources directly to Indigenous creativity, culture, and liberation, read our blog, For The People Campaign: A Call to Fund Indigenous-led Movements.
Fund the frontlines, fuel the movement, and rematriate the wealth through our For The People Campaign! ndnco.cc/ftpcdonateĀ