“We hope [these portraits] inspire you to get to know the many and varied Indigenous people of your area, ask them how to lift their voices. Get to know their history, as we are missing Native voices in the writing of history. Also, learn about the current issues facing Native people. Many of those issues will also be important to the general populace, as Native people have always been the teachers of ecology, stewards of this land, and the Protectors of the Waters. And we hope it will be written in your hearts and your minds – We Are Vital. We Are Vibrant. We Are Visible. We Are Still Here.” – Excerpt from Rhonda Anderson’s curatorial statement
Rhonda Anderson is Iñupiaq – Athabascan from Alaska. Her Native enrollment village is Kaktovik. Her life work most importantly is as a Mother, as well as a classically trained Herbalist, Silversmith, and activist. She works as an educator within area schools and the 5 colleges near her home in Massachusetts. Rhonda has sat on several Indigenous panels and roundtables to discuss how to implement the Hyde Amendment within all IHS institutions across the United States, how to better educate Native students in Massachusetts, issues regarding Native teen drug and alcohol use, land acknowledgments, land back movement, Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women, and reproductive rights. Her activism ranges from removal of mascots, Water Protector, Indigenous identity, and protecting her traditional homelands in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from extractive industry. “Vital. Vibrant. Visible: Indigenous Identity Through Portraiture” is an ongoing collection and exhibit of portraits of native peoples of New England, curated by Rhonda, to bring awareness to contemporary Indigenous identity. Rhonda has been recognized for her work by the Massachusetts State Senate and The Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women as a 2021 Commonwealth Heroine. Rhonda is Western Massachusetts Commissioner on Indian Affairs, founder and Co-Director of the Ohketeau Cultural Center and the Native Youth Empowerment Foundation, and a member of the Advisory Council for the New England Foundation for the Arts.
Sara Lyons is an artist and educator living in Western Massachusetts. She received her BFA in Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology and earned her MAT in Visual Arts from Rhode Island School of Design. In addition to her work as an art instructor at a public charter school, Sara also teaches photography workshops that delve into creativity, field work, and project development. Images from Sara’s fine art photographic series have been exhibited throughout the East Coast including a solo exhibition at Historic Northampton Museum in Northampton, Massachusetts.