Poem for Place
About the Project
yəhaw̓ Indigenous Creatives Collective invited Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe (Upper Skagit) and Jill Neumeister (Pawnee) to collaborate on a hundred foot long banner for the front fence of our South Seattle site. The resulting artwork features images Jill created of children surrounded by Native flora, overlaid with text by Sasha that reads: Haboo. Against disappearing. Haboo. We’re here and we’re listening. Haboo. For another story.
Haboo is a word used by Lushootseed-speaking peoples of the Puget Sound to encourage storytellers to keep going. Our collective is grateful to be a small part of this land’s long story.
See the banner along 51st Ave S, between South Bond and South Roxbury Streets. This project was supported, in part, by 4Culture/King County Lodging Tax.
Fabrication and installation by Polite Society.
About Sasha LaPointe
Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe is from the Upper Skagit and Nooksack Indian Tribes. Native to the Pacific Northwest she draws inspiration from her coastal heritage as well as her life in the city. She writes with a focus on trauma and resilience, ranging topics from PTSD, sexual violence, the work her great grandmother did for the Lushootseed language revitalization, to loud basement punk shows and what it means to grow up mixed heritage. Sasha teaches creative writing at the Native Pathways Program at Evergreen and is a mentor for Seattle’s youth poet laureate program. Her memoir Red Paint has received starred reviews from Kirkus and Shelf Awareness and is available through Counterpoint Press. Her collection of poetry Rose Quartz is available through Milkweed Press.
About Jill Neumeister
Jill Neumeister is the founder and principal communication strategist of Orca Design Group. Jill and her team’s branding, communications, creative and technological skill sets are vast. Together they’ve developed campaigns and assets for local, national, and international organizations in strategic communications, content strategy, marketing, and advanced brand executions.
Jill is a citizen of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma. She grew up in a large extended family on the traditional homelands of the Puyallup Indian Tribe of Western Washington. After her first career in corporate retail design, she founded Orca Design Group, a marketing communications firm, in 1993. Ten years later, her husband, Vaughn, joined her. She and Vaughn reside in Gig Harbor, Washington, with their pups, Rocci and Khaleesi. When she’s not working, she advances causes close to her heart, pursues artful endeavors, hangs out with family, and travels the backroads on her motorcycle.