Amber Starks

Ancestry: Muscogee / Creek Citizen / Black
Based In: Portland, OR
Email: melaninmvskoke@gmail.com
Social Media: @MelaninMvskoke
Website: melaninmvskoke.creator-spring.com

About the Art
Quarantine was mentally and emotionally very tough to navigate, but I used that time to find myself, to reconnect to my tribe, learn my Mvskoke language (which I'm still in the process of learning), learn to bead (because I was spending too much on beaded earrings), and build community online as Melanin Mvskoke. I'm not sure what I would've done without it all. I've grown so much over the last year and I've learned so much about myself and the importance of community.

About the Artist
Amber is an Afro Indigenous (African-American and Native American) activist, aspiring cultural critic/commentator, a student of decolonial theory, and budding abolitionist. She is an enrolled member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and is also of Shawnee, Yuchi, Quapaw, and Cherokee descent. She’s passionate about Black Indigeneity and seeks to normalize, affirm, and advocate for the intersectional identity in both the Black and Native communities through discourse and direct action. She ultimately believes the partnerships between Black and Indigenous peoples (and all POC) will aid in the dismantling of white supremacy and settler colonialism, globally. In addition to activism, her passions include her family, traveling, reading, researching her ancestry, reconnecting to her tribe and learning her ancestral language, beading, and roller skating. She earned a Bachelor’s of Science in General Science (emphasis in Biology and Anthropology) from the University of Oregon in 2003.