Hailey Tayathy

Ancestry: Quileute
Based In: Seattle, WA
Email: jordancrem@gmail.com
Social Media: @haileytayathy
Website: haileytayathy.com

About the Art

My performances focus on highlighting the Queer Indigenous experience and creating strong visual representation of Queer Indigenous people. Grounding my work in Quileute traditions my work creates new ceremonies and traditions. I see drag as a continuation of the transformation stories that are a prominent part of Quileute culture and the culture of many tribes up and down the coast. My work shows Quileutes as a modern people and holds space for LGBTQ2S members of the Native community to think about sexuality and relationships in non-westernized context.

About the Artist
Hailey Tayathy is a Quileute drag artist. They use their experience as a gay Native to inform their unique brand of drag. They pull from both traditional dance and art forms and from modern dance styles. They've performed for the Seattle Art Museum, Burke Museum, Office of Arts & Culture, Seattle Indian Health Board, among others. By providing a visual representation of Queer Indigenous people and telling their story, they aim to bring healing to Indigenous communities and hope to show everyone that Indigiqueers are still here and stronger and more beautiful than the colonized mind can imagine.


Survivance
video Performance, 2020


River

performance, 2020

Videography was done by Michael B. Maine. This performance was for the Seattle is Native Land show. The piece links the history of colonizers changing waterways with the colonization of Indigenous people. Both the violence and the strength it took to survive it.


Transformation Powers
performance, 2020