Project 562

30/07/2024

Hi Friends, I'm working on a big project in downtown Seattle (more official announcement soon), but I am looking to hire a general laborer. If you know anyone looking for temporary work, we'd much appreciate you spreading the word. ;)

Job Title: Temporary General Laborer Location: 55 University St, Seattle, WA 98101 Job Type: Temporary (Two Weeks to One Month) Job Description: We are seeking a Temporary General Laborer for a...

03/07/2024

We are THRILLED to announce the continuation of our journey with Project 562 as we expand into the world of children's literature! Our new children's book, “Project 562: May We Know an Indigenous Future," has just been picked up by Simon & Schuster and is set to be released in 2026, edited by Celia Lee! We can't wait to continue to share this adventure with you all. Stay tuned for more updates!​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

22/05/2024

Project 562 is in Wampanoag country!​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​We are so excited to have two back-to-back Artist Residencies here!!

This week we will be in the area photographing locals from Nipmuc, Mashpee and Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribes with the until Saturday, May 25th.

Next week (May 27th-June 2nd): You can find us editing, printing and speaking at .

On Thursday May 30th at 9:00 am ET: Tune in to Healing Wisdom to catch my interview with .peoples on WOMR 92.1 FM in Ptown and WFMR 91.3 FM in Orleans, or find it on apple podcasts!

And on Saturday June 1st from 3:00-4:00 pm ET: Join me in The Barn at Twenty Summers for a free community artist talk!

We are also so excited to announce our new exhibit 1st Peoples: Portraits of Dawnland at Cape Ann Museum which will be opening June 29th! This exhibit will be a combination of new works created these weeks as well as pieces from the existing Project 562 collection. As a part of this exhibition we will also be back at Cape Ann Museum on July 19th for a keynote and exhibition celebration!

This is going to be a wild couple of weeks and hope to connect with all of you. ❤️

24/04/2024

Happy World Book Day! Last year, I released my Project 562 Book. Since then, I’ve sold 34k copies, it’s been reprinted 5 times and it’s a NYT Bestseller. I’ve given 20+ Keynotes, been to nearly 20 cities, given away over 10,000 books to Native students and educators and piloted our Project 562 curriculum in partnership with The National Education Association.

16/05/2023

Omg! Omg! Omg!
Book of the day on !!!!
T'igwicid! Thank you NPR, you're making this nerdy-NPR-listening-Native's dreams come true.😍😊😭

02/05/2023

We made it to Lenape Land for this epic book tour we're on. I'm looking forward to celebrating with ya'all at Parsons, May 2nd, at 4:30!

01/05/2023

On my way to Lenape Land (nka NYC) to celebrate our Indigenous Rising, and Indigenous Intelligence. I'll be telling stories, laughing loudly and signing books. I hope to see you all there-- Parsons, 66 W 12th St, Tuesday. May 4, 4:30-6. Please come a little early relatives, there's folks after us so we can't be on Ndn time 😂.

Yay! Can't wait!

25/04/2023

ITS PUB DAY!!!!😭🎉😭
In 2012, I sold everything in my Seattle apartment and set out on a Kickstarter-funded pursuit to visit, engage, and photograph people from what were then the 562 Native American Tribal Nations. Over the next decade, I traveled six thousand miles across fifty states-from Seminole Country to Inuit territory - to meet, interview, and photograph hundreds of Indigenous people. And today, these stories are available in book stores across the country, in my book, "Project 562: Changing The Way We See Native America".

It's not too late to buy your signed copy from Elliot Bay Book Store. Or you can get one tonight at the book launch celebration at Swinomish Social Service building at 7pm. The Swinomish Tribe will be giving book away Tribal members!! 🙂Tomorrow night I will in Tulalip at the Hibulb Cultural Center at 7pm, and Tulalip will also be giving away copies!!! On Thursday, we'll be at Elliot Bay Book Store at 7pm. We're asking singers and dancers to join us-- we're gonna jam!!!!! 💛

Id like to raise my hands to each of you who contributed to this endeavor. Each of you is remembered. They say that it takes a village. For Project 562 it took a nation. My heart is full of gratitude. I am forever grateful. Thank you. T'igwicid. Migwetch. Pilamiya. Ahéhee.

22/04/2023

This morning I did yoga with Darkfeather, and she reminded that all of this was a dream. She remembers when I was dreaming about making real. She remembers when I called her and told her about this image that I saw first in my dreams. I truly believe (especially today on Earth day) that the spirit and the earth will send us messages in our dreams, and if we can muster the courage, we can turn dreams reality.

I always think about that as I see canoes on the water. Our ancestors, despite religious and cultural persecution, dreamt of maintaining these life ways. So now, every year, 100+ U.S. tribes, First Nations and Maori canoe families make “the journey” by pulling their canoes to a host tribe. Canoe families pull for weeks, and upon landing, there will be several days and nights of cultural celebration.

Sisters, Darkfeather(left) and Bibiana (right) expressed this so clearly in their interview with me stating, “When we’re on the water, we all have to pull together. Everything is smoother when we all work together. The teachings that the elders gave to us... ...they teach us how to walk in the world”. -Darkfeather Ancheta.
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It feels as though you were all in my canoe this entire time, pulling with me. Your support led me to travel and shared friendships allowed my journey to continue. You shared your couch, your food, your stories and your love & when things got difficult, you were still there, pulling.. encouraging me to keep going. So, I began writing. Even after Alma Bee came into the world, I kept going. The culture, my roots, the teachings, and all of you give me strength and hope.
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So, as this day approaches and the days get busy, I hope you know how deeply I respect, honor, and love every single one of you. -Matika
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11/04/2023

The countdown begins! We are two weeks out from the release of my book — Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America. Once the 25th comes around, we will be on the road — signing books, talking, and celebrating. Check our website events page for tour info (https://www.project562.com/events) and come be in community with us. Looking forward to meeting all of you and sharing the joy that has culminated in the making of this piece.

T’igwicid to everyone who made this possible! See you soon

06/04/2023

YAAAAYYYYY!!! We are three weeks away from the book launch and book tour!!!! I am hoping to meet as many of you as possible en route. Here’s the book tour poster, so if we’re stopping in your city (or one near you), please do join us! To kick off the tour, if you’re in Washington, we’re launching in Swinomish, on April 25th, at The Social Service building at 7pm. Then the next night we’ll be in Tulalip, at The Hibulb Cultural Center, on the 26th. The following night we will be in Seattle at ! We’re asking all singers and dancers to join us at Elliott Bay (or at any of the stops)– we are hoping to indigenize all those books and bring all the good medicine and joy together. Then off we go on the road!

April 25, 7pm: Swinomish, Social Service Building
April 25, 7pm: Tulalip, Hibulb Cultural Center
April 26, 7pm: Seattle, Elliot Bay Book Store
April 28, 9am: Portland, OIEA
April 28, 7pm: Eugene, Many Nations Longhouse
April 30, 5:30pm: Tulsa, AISES
May 2, 6:00pm: NYC, Parsons, AICH
May 3: Berkeley, UC Berkeley
May 4: Monterey Institute of International Studies
May 5: San Luis Obisbo, CAL POLY
May 8: Santa Monica, SMC
May 10: San Diego?
May 12: Phoenix?
May 17: Santa Fe, TBD
May 19: Oklahoma?
May 30: New Orleans, NCORE

Some exact locations are still TBD, and if they are, that is because we are still looking for community partners! So if you have any contacts that would be willing and able to host a book party, please let us know!

Lastly, if you want a physical invitation to our book tour events respond to our story or DM us with your address and we will send you one.

Sending love. See you soon.

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03/04/2023

Vogue Philippines has revealed Apo Whang-Od as the cover star of its April issue, a move that makes the 106-year-old tattoo artist from the Philippines the oldest person ever to appear on the front of Vogue.
Whang-Od — also known as Maria Oggay — has been perfecting the art of hand-tapping tattoos since she was a teen, learning under her father's instruction.
Residing in the mountain village of Buscalan, about 15 hours north of Manila, in Kalinga province, she is considered the country's oldest mambabatok — or traditional Kalinga tattooist.

01/04/2023

Starrburst Flower Montoya was raised among her mother’s Barona people, a Diegueño Tribe in Southern California, as well as in the ancient Taos Pueblo Village on her father’s side, both powerful and distinct Indigenous worlds. “I’m very privileged and honored to come from two different backgrounds,” she told me. “And now that I have a son, it’s real important to be able to balance that out and expose him to what I can offer.”
Starrburst Flower shared some of what she has gained from her two cultures.

”In California my mother and I would gather acorns in the local mountains in harvest time, October, to make acorn mush, a staple for Native foods. We had to beat squirrels and crows, and rain too, which would ruin the acorn with little holes. We would dry them out for the year to make traditional foods for gatherings, or maybe for an elder who wanted high- protein traditional food. That was something I tucked under my belt.”
Starrburst Flower’s name is from a lovely mountain flower found in Taos Pueblo and reflects the influence of her father’s people.

“My grandmother opened the door to Pueblo life. I started early in the dances and learning how to cook, sew—all the essential skills of a Pueblo woman. Being a Pueblo woman is hard work, but rewarding in so many ways. It’s earned. It took me a long time to learn everything too. But it balances me. All the teachings, I hold dear.”

Starrburst Flower joins the Taos Pueblo people in annual pilgrimages to Blue Lake, the Tribe’s most holy and culturally significant place, a beautiful glacier-fed lake at twelve thousand feet. Blue Lake was once threatened with exploitation by local government and private interests, but Taos Pueblo initiated successful activism and federal lobbying to reclaim and safeguard these ancestral lands, setting precedent for all Tribes for the integrity and security of their territories. In her rich life journey, Starrburst Flower recognizes common relationality among Indigenous peoples.

(Continued in the comments)
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25/03/2023

Anna Cook belongs to the Swinomish, Skowlitz, Hualapai, Havasupai, Chemehuevi, and Cherokee peoples, but she was raised in Swinomish, and she's my baby cousin that I just adore. When I photographed Anna, she was only sixteen, and it is incredible to see how much she has grown into her own since then. She is a graduate of Evergreen State College, where she majored in Native American studies. She now works as a community environmental health associate for the Swinomish Tribe, where she has been active in cultural reactivation projects such as harvesting and distributing traditional plant medicines, offering fresh fruits and vegetables to community members, and teaching traditional practices to young people.

“There are many issues across Indian Country, but I feel that understanding food sovereignty can help in the fight against many of these battles. Food sovereignty, and regaining access to our land and traditional foods, not only benefits our health but also works in revitalizing our culture. It connects us in a profound way—when you go outside and harvest traditional medicines, and make it into a tea, it’s like you’re sharing a cup of tea with your ancestors, because it's like you’re sharing a cup of tea with your ancestors, because they drank from that same medicine. Connecting ourselves to Mother Earth helps remind us of why we’re fighting so hard to protect our culture and protect our land. When we do harvest, we should always highlight the importance of ethical harvesting. When you’re mindful while harvesting, that’s a prayer within itself.”

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Happy Spring Relatives! The Project 562 book is one month out from being on shelves!

Anna will be at the opening book launch on April 25th to share a few words at the Swinomish Social Service Building at 7pm. 🤍

20/03/2023

Final book reveal! Thank you to for the gorgeous images of the front and back covers featuring a review from the one and only Tommy Orange.

“This book is too important to miss... This book is straight from the mouths of this land’s original people, through the lens and artistry of a vital photographer and storyteller.”—Tommy Orange, author of There There

The stories here touch on personal and cultural identity as well as issues of media representation, sovereignty, faith, family, the protection of sacred sites, subsistence living, traditional knowledge-keeping, land stewardship, language preservation, advocacy, education, the arts, and more.

Please consider pre-ordering The Project 562 book (link in bio)! With your help we can amplify the stories that I have gathered throughout the past decade from across Turtle Island and help Native America reach the Best Seller list. By pre-ordering and submitting your order number on this form: https://woobox.com/rqem8k (also in our linktree), you can also enter the Project 562 book print giveaway – 100 winners will receive a signed print of the book’s cover featuring auntie Dr. Henrietta Mann (Cheyenne).

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Photo by

09/03/2023

Last week I was asked to speak to a room full of folks that manage public lands across the country at the Public Lands Alliance in Portland, Oregon. I challenged the audience to begin examining the settler colonial mythologies that are being upheld, and whether or not they will participate in re-writing settler colonial mythologies.

Our relationship with land begins with how we address her. What names do we use and why? In a study, “Words are monuments: Patterns in US national park place names perpetuate settler colonial mythologies including white supremacy”, that was recently published in “People and Nature”, they evaluated 16 national parks, ranging from Canyonlands to Yellowstone. The authors assessed the available data to determine whether a given place name “perpetuates settler colonial mythologies.” Their research reveals that many of the place names employ racist slurs concerning racial minority groups. The ratio at which Indigenous and Black place names are outnumbered by names that "perpetuate settler colonialism”, was 2:1. And The percentage of traditional Indigenous place names found within the 16 reviewed parks was 4.8 %. But what’s really shocking, is that every park that was examined, all sixteen contained “at least one or more places or features named after people who supported racist ideologies, capitalized on Indigenous dispossession and colonization, and/or participated in acts of genocide.” 205 of the parks had Settler colonizer place names that replaced a known traditional Indigenous place name.

North America is Native land. Every lake, river, city, estuary, canyon, and mountain has a deep and knowing relationship with America’s first people. It’s time that our public lands start acknowledging that truth.
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08/03/2023

So excited for a new episodes of All My Relations! ☀️🙌🏽
Join us for an impactful story of belonging and Indigenous identity.
The incredible Brooke Pepion Swaney (Blackfeet/Salish) [] and marvelous Kendra Potter (Lummi) [.moon.wellness] join All My Relations for “Native Children Belong in Native Homes.” This heartfelt, vulnerable and raw story is centered around their film “Daughter of A Lost Bird”, which follows Kendra, an adult Native adoptee, as she reconnects with her birth family, discovers her Lummi heritage, and confronts issues of her own identity. Her singular story echoes many affected by the Indian Child Welfare Act and the Indian Adoption Project.


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Special thanks to  Santa Monica College and everyone there who made this possible, thank you to the AMR team: Jonathan Stein, , , .tower, and Charlie Stavish. Major shout out to KP of for being our live music for the event and to for the episode artwork.

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Resources mentioned in this episode:
Download the Daughter of A Lost Bird Discussion Guide here:
https://www.daughterofalostbird.com/impact

This Land Podcast:https://crooked.com/podcast-series/this-land/

The National Indian Child Welfare Association:
https://www.nicwa.org/about-icwa/

Sign the petition now: https://www.change.org/p/protect-the-indian-child-welfare-act or
https://action.lakotalaw.org/action/protect-icwa

Illuminative Protect ICWA tool kit:
https://illuminative.org/protect-icwa-toolkit/

Native American Rights Fund:
https://icwa.narf.org/

02/03/2023

✨Gratitude Giveaway✨
Friends, my heart is just so full of gratitude. Thank you for the outpouring of support for the pre-order of the Project 562 book, which will be on shelves on April 25th, 2023! To show my appreciation, I am giving away 100 signed prints featuring auntie Dr. Henrietta Mann (Cheyenne) who is on the cover of the book.

You can enter the giveaway by pre-ordering the book before March 22, and submitting your order number on this form: https://woobox.com/rqem8k (also in our linktree). Preorder link and further details are in the form.

Don’t worry, if you already pre-ordered, you can just fill out the form and we’ll be happy to enter you in the sweepstakes!

We are working really hard to get the book on bestseller lists to amplify Indigenous representation and pre-ordering is one of the best ways you can help! So thank you for being on this journey with us.

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Dr.Mann has been an influential figure in my life and the lives of so many others. One of many profound lessons she taught was to learn to say I love you in her language:

“Ne-mohatatse. I love you. The word love itself can be either mehot or mehosane. Each mean love. Ne-tseoneseom-mehotase, containing a second syllable, means I really sincerely or truly love you. It sounds so much more sincere and loving in Cheyenne. I love you is almost sterile sounding. I can say Ne-mehotatse. In our language it seems to have much more power.”

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Pictured here is the poster, held by my sweet little Bee.

22/02/2023

Welcome back for another season of All My Relations! We’re so grateful you’ve joined us on this journey!!! We are so excited to release, “Building Indigenous Futures”, where and delve into higher education for Native students. While colleges and universities around the US are releasing land acknowledgements, the Indigenous students who come from these lands make up only 1% of college students nationally. We know college can be a source of power and strength for our communities, but we also know the experiences of Native students in college can be difficult and heartbreaking. If higher education in predominantly white, colonial, western institutions is potentially very dangerous for Native people: why should we still look to college as a goal for Native students?

To help us explore this question, we talk with Dr. Amanda Tachine (Diné), Assistant Professor, Mary Lou Fulton Teacher’s College, Arizona State University; Dr. Bryan Brayboy (Lumbee), President’s Professor in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University; Carmen Lopez (Diné), Executive Director of ; and Dominick Joseph (Tulalip) , a graduate student at The University of Washington.

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To learn more about our guests work, we’ve added their books and podcasts to our link tree!

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Huge thanks to the AMR team, , Jonathan Stein, Darrien Camarillo, .tower, , . Original music for this episode was provided by ! As always, episode artwork by .

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Disclaimer: In this episode we focus solely on white, western institutions, but we want to acknowledge there is also an entire alternative system of Native higher education already in place we hope to explore in a future episode: Tribal Colleges and Universities!

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29/01/2023

In my years on the road and with the Big Girl RV ™️, I have learned a thing or two. For instance, if you’re planning on hitting the road, you want a full size shower in your RV. In my Honda, I had to stop at the YMCA so much and rely on “trial” gym memberships at fancier gyms. Then in my first RV, my shower was super small. In my current Big Girl, I love and appreciate the full-size shower so much. I also learned how to cook while going 70 mph down the road. I learned how to take care of my own RV, changing car tires and fluid. In switching RVs I learned how impactful gas versus diesel is and the importance of a V8 engine to go up mountains.

On a more serious note, I realized how hyper vigilant about safety I had to be traveling as a solo Native woman. I had a rule that I wouldn’t get out of my RV at a campsite so that people wouldn’t know I was a woman traveling alone. I was aware of my surroundings at all times, so that I wouldn’t be another statistic.

I am so grateful for my time on the road. Experience is a teacher like no other, and I was granted that opportunity because so many people believed in me and my vision. The reason I was able to go in the first place was with kickstarter donations and the kindness of those on the road that allowed me to moondock outside their houses.

To think of the Honda to now, with my own coffee grinder, press, and milk frother in my RV, I have appreciated the journey and the people who made it possible.

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Photos of my first and second RVs by

24/01/2023

Yesterday was the anniversary of one of the treaties I think about quite often. On January 22, 1855 the Treaty of Point Elliott was signed between Duwamish, Suquamish, Snoqualmie, Snohomish, Lummi, Skagit, and Swinomish tribes of the Pacific Northwest and the US government to guarantee hunting and fishing rights on reservation land. However, this was at the expense of ceding 54,000 acres of tribal land to the US which includes Seattle, Renton, Tukwila, Bellevue, Merer Island, and much of King County.

Reflecting back, this treaty, while important to now pressuring the government to uphold its promises to sovereign nations because of it is legally binding, it is an important reminder of the US’ approach to Native peoples. Under the most basic interpretation, the US government would not respect hunting and fishing rights without the trading of homelands and displacement to reservations. Further, all tribal and US interactions has largely centered on modes of dispossession of land. From the creation of reservations in 1851 with the Indian Appropriations Act to today’s Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta, the US has gotten creative to acquire land and attempt to undermine tribal sovereignty.

Sovereignty itself is a non-indigenous concept that has come, historically, to describe the unique political status of Native people. As such, it offered a critical rubric for considering the history and nature of contact, conflict, conquest, and colonialism and a sustained Native demand for autonomy in the face of European and American inquisition. We have claimed this term in our favor for the right and power to self-govern our nations. Working and operating under this notion of using non-indigenous concepts to fight back, we can see that because treaties are the “law of the land”, we should use the legislation to demand more and the fulfillment of the the agreements. We can stand and call the US to make right on the promises that have never been kept.

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Photo by of canoeing in front of land that was ceded in the Treaty of Point Elliott

12/01/2023

I realize we are already two weeks into the New Year, but as always, time is moving so fast! So cheers to 2022! I'll always remember 2022 is the year I finished my Project 562 book, did an epic residency at Santa Monica College, exhibited in Photoville , finished my first short “One Small Thing”, did some incredible photoshoots, co-hosted our first live , and shared the magic of life with my friends, love Lino, and our baby Alma Bee. So grateful to everyone who made 2022 a year for the books!

1: Me in all my pages, wearing Mocs from my wedding made by Jamie Gentey and holding the Leica Camera I won
2: Lydia Agnus in our short documentary “One Small Thing”
3: Alma and my mom at Seattle's Seafair PowWow at Day Break Star, where Alma danced for the first time
4: Lino, Alma, and I at LACMA
5: My Photoville exhibit
6: Photoshoot with Black Belt Eagle Scout
7: Me giving a keynote at NCORE
8: Finally got the perfect palm tree shot
9: Exhibition shot at The Barrett Gallery

I can’t wait to see what 2023 holds.

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Photos by

#2022

16/11/2022

We made a short documentary, and I couldn’t be more excited to share it with you.

"One Small Thing" follows the story of one woman revitalizing traditional Iñupiaq tattoos in the small village of Kotzebue, Alaska. Through her work, she discovers how revitalization connects to the original feminist, Sassuma Arnaa.

We’re premiering the first segment of this four part series about traditional Indigenous tattoo revival this Saturday, at 5:30pm, in Santa Monica at JAMS theatre, as part of our first ever “All My Relations Film Festival”. (Link in bio, or visit smcbarrettgallery.com)

I’d be so honored if you’d join us. DM me if you want to come, and I’ll add you to the list.

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Special thanks to Holly Mititquq Nordlum, Nikki Wikken, Lydia Agnus, Alysha Nanouk, Walter Gregg and the Kids of Boys and Girls Club in Kotzebue. We love you asnd are honored to share in telling this your story.

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13/11/2022

Hiya! I am very giddy about a huge collaboration I have been working on. I’ve been doing a residency at Santa Monica College for about a year now, and together with the students, and Emily Silver , we’ve been working on a Project 562 exhibition, film festival, All My Relations podcast taping, mural and pop up market, as well as some institutional change at Santa Monica College.

Please join us for the All My Relations Film Festival at Santa Monica College on November 18th and 19th!!!

This is the kind of collaboration I have dreamed of and it would not be possicle without the teamwork of so many incredible partners and foundations, several departments, students, and the city of Santa Monica.

For what we are doing together, it’s an incredible line-up that was hand chosen by myself and Sterlin. We will be welcoming Tazbah Chavez , Jana Schmieding , Sierra Teller Ornelas , Ryan Redcorn , Sterlin Harjo , Brit Hensel , Shaandiin Tome , Brooke Swaney , Jon Ayon , Dr. Adrienne Keene and myself, to show episodes/film(s) and talking story on the pod. We also have Black Belt Eagle Scout , KP, doing live instrumentation! I’m incredibly grateful for all of them to join in the conversation. 

In addition to the Project 562 exhibit and the All My Relations podcast taping, I am also very proud to put forth my own film work: One Small Thing. It’s been a work in progress for a while and I am looking forward to sharing it with you all.

Tickets are for sale (proceeds benefit our newly established Native student scholarship), and it is free for students.

For the 18th, podcast recording will be from 11:00 am to 2 pm with an intermission from noon to 1 pm, and the Film Festival Portion will be from 5 pm to 9:30 pm.

For the 19th, podcast recording will be from 11:00 am to 2:25 pm with a two intermissions between 12-12:30pm and 1:30-1:45pm. The Film Festival Portion will be from 4 pm to 8:30 pm.

To learn more, check the link in my bio!

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10/10/2022

The future is Indigenous y’all. Our babies are learning our time-honored traditions. Our elders are teaching our languages, songs and histories. Our relatives are making Indigenous spaces on screen and in office. We’re taking our land back. We’re reclaiming our bodies. We’re building our Indigenous future and it looks so beautiful. I’m so proud to celebrate us today and everyday. Happy Indigenous Peoples Day.

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PC of my mom Nancy Wilbur (Swinomish) and baby Alma Bee (Swinomish and Tulalip) at the SeaFair powwow, Alma’s first time dancing.