Regina's Final Essay

Contemporary Native American Identity Through Art

Natani Notah is an artist who uses her work to explore contemporary Native American identity, and in particular Diné womanhood. She emphasizes the importance of knowing where you come from and being grounded by your family—citing acts of decolonization, Indigenous feminism, and indigenous futurism as further sources of inspiration. Through her art, she examines the impacts of colonialism and uses materials in her pieces that have a history of contamination and exploitation. By bringing together items that may not fit together, such as the stereotypical portrayal of a Native American woman on a Land O’Lakes mug to a fine art gallery, Natani challenges the viewer to think deeply about the way that we are influenced by images. 

One work that had a significant impact on me was Natani’s film, “I Cut My Hair.” In the film, she wears a plain, white t-shirt and a dusty pink long skirt. She sits in front of a tan door and cuts her hair piece by piece while performing a monologue for missing and murdered indigenous people. I was very moved by how Natani chose to shed light on a critical and urgent issue through art. What art allows for is an unrestrained, fearless perspective on the world. What can’t be said in everyday conversation is given greater complexity through creative mediums.

Natani works across several mediums, from painting to film to poetry to sculpture and beyond. Another work I really enjoyed was her “Standing Rock Collages” in which she took photographs from the Dakota Access Pipeline protests and pasted them onto white paper. She then cut out tan speech bubbles but left them blank. What results are visually striking, powerful images that say so much without literally saying anything at all. 

Although Natani is an interdisciplinary artist, she is most of all a storyteller who uses her art to highlight Native narratives that are often overlooked by mainstream media. She seeks to confront the dominant patriarchal and colonial dialogues in the United States by inserting a female Native perspective. Dealing with topics such as intergenerational trauma, Natani facilitates collective healing and reconciliation through her artwork. 

I am immensely inspired by the thought and creativity Natani puts into her work, as well as her ambition to use her work to comment on issues of identity and culture. I think that people like Natani are doing such important work for our society today, and I’m so excited to see where else she takes her art to.