By Teri and I recently “attended” this event presented by the High Desert Museum, located just south of here. How cool is it that we could be there, together, while in different corners of the US? The High Desert Museum features exhibits ranging through art, history, archeology, regional biota – all with a focus on local influences and events. Matika Wilbur’s photographs are currently exhibited, though the facility is still closed. We were so fortunate that we were able to ZOOM into her home for her previously scheduled presentation to accompany the exhibit.
Matika is a force of nature. She is a brilliant photographer and a fierce and compassionate advocate for indigenous rights and representation. Her Project 562 “is a multi-year national photography project dedicated to photographing over 562 federally recognized tribes in The United States resulting in an unprecedented repository of imagery and oral histories that accurately portrays contemporary Native Americans.” Her images are stunning and her passion and focus is palpable. The stories she shares will make you laugh and weep, will sometimes make you gasp. So grateful that we had the chance to “attend” this event.
Open Arts Spring 2023 
Thank you, JNaz, for posting this. It’s an hour of wonderful. The project. The stories. The photographs. I’m so glad I was there with you, even though we couldn’t see one another. And I must confess that as soon as I saw participants weren’t going to be on-screen I shut off my camera, put the piece of masking tape back over the lens, and proceeded to change into my PJ’s while watching. 🙂
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So glad you could watch in the comfort of your PJ’s.
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Noticed the video starts several minutes into the recording. You may need to back it up a bit.
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I’m so glad you posted this. I really enjoyed this young woman’s passion and dedication to truth telling. I sent the talk to my friend who teaches a class on race and ethnicity at PSU. He assigns lots of online material. He teaches classes of over 700 students. Wilbur’s journey is well worth promoting! The 562 website is lovely.
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Barbara, so glad that you enjoyed this. Matika is pretty special. Glad too that you are passing it along. Her project is pretty phenomenal.
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JNaz! Teri! I love knowing you two were hanging out taking this in- I will give it a watch when I can soon and get back here. First week of summer classes in full swing- yahoo!
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