Green Schools Conference

Matika Wilbur, a visual storyteller from the Swinomish and Tulalip peoples of coastal Washington, for the past five years has been traveling and photographing Indian Country in pursuit of one goal: To Change the Way We See Native America. Matika has devoted herself to photography as a creator and messenger, producing multiple acclaimed exhibitions in leading museums and other venues of her striking portraits of Pacific Northwest and other Native peoples. She has also offered training and inspiration to Native youth of her own community to explore and create visual art as a certified k-12 teacher; but she found that the representation of First Peoples in traditional curricula and the media as "leathered and feathered", dying races undermined her students’ sense of identity and potential. Thus, Matika began Project 562’s mission to photograph and collect stories of Native Americans from each federally-recognized Indian tribe in the United States to create comprehensive visual curricula and publications representing contemporary Native America. Through her lens, we are able to see the diversity, vibrancy and realness of Indian Country, and in seeing, challenge and surpass stereotypical representations and refresh the national conversation about contemporary Native America.