Indigenous Women's Activism & Media with Siku Allooloo & Carmen Guerrero

2023

Siku Allooloo is one of the co-curators of Woven In: Indigenous Women’s Activism and Media, an exhibition that celebrates the intergenerational continuum of grassroots leadership and anticolonial organizing led by Indigenous women through advocacy, communications, artistry, and community initiatives.

Along with works by Gerry Ambers, Marianne Nicolson, Banchi Hanuse and Tania Willard, Siku Allooloo brings historic publications from her personal archives into the AGGV’s Gallery space to highlighting the pivotal work done by her mother, Marie-Hélène Laraque, through a publication called Indígena: News From Indian America (active from 1973-78), which was co-edited by Carmen Guerrero (who joins Siku in this video). Indígena started as a solidarity network to circulate vital information on Indigenous peoples in Brazil undergoing genocide by extractive industries, as mainstream media looked on. Being a Taíno woman from Haiti, whose ancestors descended from the Amazon and launched the first resistance in 1492, these women felt an urgent need to build on the momentum of the Red Power Movement and leverage support across all Indigenous nations fighting for life, land, and inherent rights. By 1974 Indígena expanded to a quarterly newspaper with the most up to date information on Indigenous movements across the Western hemisphere.

“Thanks to my mother’s oral history and the loved ones who have shared their original issues of Indígena with me, I am endeavoring to reassemble this archive for our generations present, past and future. Starting with excerpts from the issue dedicated to Indigenous Women of the Americas.”
– Siku Allooloo

Learn more about Woven In: https://aggv.ca/exhibits/woven-in/

The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria is located on the traditional territory of the lək̓ʷəŋən speaking peoples, today known as the Esquimalt and Songhees First Nations. We extend our gratitude and appreciation for the opportunity to live and work on this territory.

Videography and editing by Marina DiMaio.Siku Allooloo is one of the co-curators of Woven In: Indigenous Women’s Activism and Media, an exhibition that celebrates the intergenerational continuum of grassroots leadership and anticolonial organizing led by Indigenous women through advocacy, communications, artistry, and community initiatives.  …

Autogenerated Transcript from YouTube (if available)

Use CTRL+F to find key words if it is a longer transcript​.

0:00

hello my name is siku alelu I am one of

0:03

the co-curators of the woven in

0:04

exhibition

0:06

I’m the daughter of Mary Lynn larocque

0:07

the founder of Indiana news from Indian

0:10

America

0:11

my name is Carmen Dino Vice Guerrero I’m

0:14

the co-editor of Indiana news with Maria

0:16

Elena Rock I’m very happy to be here

0:19

being part of this exhibition

0:21

documenting the historical activism on

0:24

[Music]

0:26

we’re delighted to share with you the

0:29

cover and the Insight cover that from

0:32

their issue dedicated to indigenous

0:34

women of the Americas from 1975 1976.

0:39

I was a student at Berkeley when I met

0:42

Marie Lane and I fell in love with her

0:44

project and I was able to be a

0:46

contributor to indihina for a few years

0:49

hindihina was the only bilingual

0:52

newspaper in the whole American

0:53

continent dedicated to issues of Native

0:55

America we were able to publish this

0:58

newspaper and circulate it to many other

1:00

areas we should we ship them to Europe

1:03

to South America to Mexico all over

1:06

Canada and we always partner with aqua

1:08

sassanine news

1:10

who was a monthly publication and

1:13

indigina was a quarterly publication

1:15

yeah at the time indigenous had the most

1:19

up-to-date and extensive reporting on

1:21

indigenous political movements in the

1:25

globe

1:26

and it circulated all across the Western

1:27

Hemisphere and was run by these

1:31

brilliant amazing pioneering women who

1:35

had a vision a long-range Vision vast

1:38

interconnected Vision to interleave

1:40

people from all nations from all

1:43

territories in

1:45

you struggle for indigenous people for

1:47

life for Homeland for love of culture

1:50

and for love of our world and to keep

1:53

each other United and strong and focused

1:58

with this exhibition with woven in it

2:02

was really important to Marianne and

2:04

Jerry and myself to unearth these

2:07

histories that were never given proper

2:11

documentation or recognition the

2:13

leadership of indigenous women from all

2:16

of these territories

2:17

who did the lifelong work as leaders in

2:22

their own right as representatives of

2:25

their homelands and their families and

2:28

their people and who worked in a spirit

2:30

of Sisterhood and solidarity and also as

2:34

women thinking of the future generations

2:36

and thinking of all of the other

2:40

life forms and everything that sustains

2:42

our world for the betterment and

2:45

all the beings that can’t speak for

2:48

themselves that it’s our responsibility

2:50

to hold up and that also in return

2:54

sustain us I am so fortunate to have

2:58

Carmen in my life to be able to share

3:01

stories from that time of and from the

3:05

love and the memory of that beautiful

3:07

way of organizing in a spirit of love

3:10

and connection and

3:13

keeping each other’s fire strong

3:16

I also see you in the exhibition that

3:18

these women’s these activists Pioneers

3:21

they’re breaking the ceiling they are

3:24

also unsung heroes a lot of us don’t

3:26

know about them so this exhibition just

3:29

the beginning of sharing their history

3:32

and also modeling leadership for the

3:35

future Generations so that’s why I feel

3:37

it’s really important to be here in this

3:39

exhibition and to talk about this unsung

3:41

here so we have so many of them

3:43

is a lifetime

3:45

to a remember and honor all of them but

3:48

that’s what our intention is yeah

3:51

it’s a dream come true and it’s so

3:54

important because we were saying where

3:57

do you find this history unless you were

4:00

connected in a intimate way through

4:03

relationships with the women leading

4:06

these things where do you ever hear of

4:08

this history and I remembered when I was

4:12

a student here at the University of

4:13

Victoria I did a degree in anthropology

4:16

and Indigenous studies and I was

4:19

studying the red Power movement and I

4:22

was looking through all these resources

4:25

in the libraries and everywhere I could

4:27

find and I found incredible

4:31

work that was led by indigenous Nations

4:34

but it always struck me so deeply that I

4:38

could never find the voices of the women

4:39

and those were so rare and I knew

4:43

through the stories of my mother and the

4:45

stories of Carmen that they lived this

4:48

history they lived the the fight and the

4:52

long-term struggle of indigenous

4:56

Resurgence and Indigenous rights and

4:58

Indigenous Justice and I was looking for

5:01

them and there was nowhere that that

5:03

could be found in in all of my research

5:06

in the archives I had to talk to people

5:09

I had to talk to the woman that I know

5:12

to find this and one of the most

5:14

important things I found as a student

5:16

was Marianne Nicholson’s Cliff painting

5:19

her 90 1998 Cliff painting which

5:24

you know was such a

5:26

such an important marker in our lifetime

5:31

to have an indigenous woman

5:34

make a mark on her territory in the

5:39

tradition of her ancestors that’s a

5:43

legal affirmation and a cultural

5:45

affirmation of sovereignty and to be

5:48

doing that

5:49

in this ancestral line between be

5:52

regenerating that but especially as a

5:55

woman in a marker on the territory that

5:57

really struck me in a deep way and it’s

6:01

amazing to be able to see the trajectory

6:03

of that to the work that she’s continued

6:05

to do with her community and

6:07

regenerating that beautiful practice of

6:11

connection to the land

6:14

why was it very important to document

6:16

those women we don’t know the story of

6:18

Marianne and all those Cliff paintings

6:20

but it’s absolutely amazing to think

6:22

that one person could make such a

6:25

difference in their own community and

6:27

that’s what I feel this exhibition

6:29

showcases the power of community the

6:32

power of ours of us is when you’ve been

6:34

activists and be supported by the

6:37

community

6:38

so I really appreciate you telling those

6:40

stories because those are the stories

6:42

that the Next Generation need to hear

6:44

yes

6:46

and when we were talking with Jerry in

6:48

the organizing of this exhibition I

6:51

would tell her this is what my mom said

6:53

this is what I remember her saying this

6:55

is what I remember her writing this is

6:57

what Carmen told me this is these are

6:59

some of the conversations that they

7:01

would have about the importance of

7:04

giving messages of strength and love and

7:07

having courage to be steadfast in doing

7:11

what needs to be done even admits

7:13

tremendous adversity from male leaders

7:17

at the time and who were not who were

7:20

diminishing women and not giving space

7:23

for this kind of leadership on par on

7:26

equal terms and

7:28

it was beautiful because we wanted to

7:31

Showcase this Dedication that Carmen and

7:33

my mother wrote to indigenous women of

7:35

the Americas nine and Jerry said

7:39

um

7:40

it’s like they’re speaking to us today

7:43

so we wanted to really be able to share

7:45

this with all generations and especially

7:47

to nourish future Generations

7:51

I think it’s amazing that we wrote that

7:53

over 40 years ago and then when I reread

7:56

it right now this is so relevant it’s

7:59

almost like we’re still here you know

8:01

even though we’re part of the movement

8:02

and so many things happen in the 70s we

8:04

had our trance we had

8:08

um

8:08

we had big activism and the Indian

8:11

American Indian movement was very

8:13

visible and very powerful

8:15

but we are still in the same place

8:18

whereas women we’re not being heard so I

8:22

think it’s really important that we’re

8:23

rededicating

8:24

this you know editorial and this

8:27

exhibition to all the women activists

8:29

out there yes

8:36

it’s so good to just be here talking

8:38

about that

8:40

we are living through a period of great

8:42

changes an important time in history the

8:45

destruction of the Earth the hardships

8:48

that our people have known for the last

8:49

500 years cannot go on much longer many

8:52

of us are feeling these things

8:54

our actions of today are shaping our

8:57

future we have been given much in this

8:59

life it is up to us to be mindful of

9:02

what we leave here for our children our

9:04

nations of tomorrow

9:06

it is a time of awareness and

9:08

preparation for Indian peoples

9:10

especially for native women

9:12

they continue to sustain us for to them

9:15

has been entrusted a special

9:17

relationship with the cycles of life

9:19

it is in the spirit of recognition and

9:22

appreciation that we dedicate this issue

9:24

of India to the Indian women of the

9:27

Americas

9:33

tempo

9:45

mucho centimos actions

9:54

is

10:06

Americas

10:34

whoo

10:37

I did it I can’t believe it it’s so

10:39

relevant like I’m reading it again I go

10:42

oh my gosh

10:43

it is it is it’s powerful

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