Nataanii Nez Cottier

Tribe: Oglala and Sicangu Lakota / Romanisael Swede
Based In: Seattle, WA
Email: hokazine@gmail.com
Social Media: @centavotheking

About the Art
With this painting, I wanted to create an image of an ancestor I wasn’t sure existed, but wanted to imagine was. One that I could reflect on myself and make myself in the image of. Before colonization our ideas of gender, sexuality, and love were different, these ideas were silenced by European Christian ideals. Our identities as Two-Spirit people were made hidden. I have experienced a lot of hatred due to not fitting in with eurocentric ideas of gender and love, within indigenous communities but mostly from outside them. I made this painting during a time of intense introspection, self-analysis, and spiritual openness, putting effort into listening for my ancestors and holding council with them. At this time I was also thinking more into my people’s history and teachings, an internal process of reconnection, reconciliation, and reclamation of my culture and identity that was stripped from me and my family.

About the Artist
I grew up on Cayuse and Umatilla land, I am a 3rd gen urban Native now living on Duwamish territory. I was raised by very creative women, my mom, aunt, and grandmother are all quilters and used to bead, my paternal grandmother is a seamstress and fiber artist. I was raised around art, some of my early memories are of my mom bringing me to her art classes. I’ve been pursuing art on a more professional level since I was 16. I draw from intergenerational traumas, personal traumas, and general life experiences and use art as a way to process. I currently do mixed media collage, beadwork, the occasional linocut print, and acrylic painting. I am currently working towards becoming a birth worker with a traditional focus.