In 2015 ICTMN introduced the 50 Faces of Indian Country magazine to celebrate the wealth of talented American Indians across Indian country. Last month the second annual issue, 50 Faces of Indian Country 2016, was published to highlight once again the work of a new crop of accomplished individuals and role models—including actors, leaders, and activists—who can offer inspiration to Native youth on a daily basis.

After all, what’s more uplifting than enjoying the positive contributions being made by some of the most talented people on the planet?

Below are the second 10 from 2016’s 50 Faces.

See the full magazine here.

The Art Activist: Bunky Echo-Hawk

Bunky Echo-Hawk, Pawnee and Yakama, is an activist and artist, a graduate of the Institute of American Indian Arts and co-founder of NVision, a nonprofit focusing on Native American youth through the arts. His work focuses largely on appropriation and sports mascots. It has tackled teams such as the baseball’s Cleveland Indians and the Washington, D.C. NFL team. His work often uses purposefully shocking imagery, such as his “Honor YOU” painting, which shows Apache leader Geronimo defiantly showing the viewer both his middle fingers, with the racist mascots of the Cleveland team painted on one hand, and that of the NFL team on the other hand. “I try to use my art to shed light on injustices in Indian country, both historical and contemporary, in hopes that it helps inspire people to take action,” Echo-Hawk said. “It’s incredibly humbling to be included in this group of people whose work has done so much for Indian country.” Echo-Hawk’s work is regularly featured in exhibitions around the country, most recently Native Pop! in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Find out more at bunkyechohawk.com. – S.L-R

Bunky Echo-Hawk

The Mohawk Warrior: Beverly Cook

Beverly Cook (Wolf Clan) is a Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Council Chief, and one of three Chiefs who serve the Akwesasne Mohawk community in northern New York State. She says her activism began after graduating from nursing school in 1974. “I participated in the occupation of an abandoned girls camp, which resulted in the establishment of Ganienkeh in Altona, New York. I took part in the Longest Walk in 1978, and the barricaded encampment at Raquette Point in Akwesasne (1979 to 1982). I worked with others to establish a volunteer rescue squad after the nearby town withdrew emergency services to our reservation. A group of us were trained as EMT’s and I became an EMT instructor. In 1975, I was one of the first founding parents of the Akwesasne Freedom School.”

Before becoming a chief, Cook worked at the Saint Regis Mohawk Health Services Clinic as an RN, Clinic Coordinator and Family Nurse Practitioner for 30 years. “Taking on a leadership position has given me the opportunity to advocate for change in the old paradigms of service delivery; to help support community based movements that include culture and endeavor to guide adolescents through puberty rites or adults through recovery or moms through their pregnancies,” she says, adding that it is an honor to be recognized in 50 Faces of Indian Country. “I’m flattered to be selected for this but I feel others have done so much more.”

Laurie Gardner

Beverly Cook

The Award Winner: Louise Erdrich

When she is not busy writing award-winning novels, poetry, children’s books, short stories or all manner of other works, Louise Erdrich, Turtle Mountain Ojibwe, is helping oversee Birchbark Books. That’s the Minnesota bookstore she co-owns with her sister, Heid Erdrich, with whom she also founded the Ojibwe-language Wiigwaas Press. The author of 15 novels, Louise Erdrich won the National Book Award in 2012 for Fiction for The Round House, and her latest novel, La Rose, has been highly acclaimed. Erdrich was receiving awards right out of the gate, with her first novel, Love Medicine, garnering the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1984. She has also been awarded the Library of Congress Prize in American Fiction, the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, among others. On being selected for the 50 Faces of Indian Country, she tells ICTMN, “I am very honored.”

Courtesy Paul Emmel/Harper Collins

Louise Erdrich

The Hollywood Icon: Sonny Skyhawk

Sonny Skyhawk has been an actor for more than 40 years and was the first Native American member of the Motion Picture Academy. He is also the founder of American Indians in Film and Television. “I wanted to give our people a voice in the industry,” he told ICTMN. Skyhawk said Hollywood’s depiction of Natives has “evolved somewhat, [but] Hollywood has their own perception of Native people—the old Western has implanted a negative perception of our people for far too long. There continues to be this proliferation of the negative images of our people.” Skyhawk, Sicangu Lakota, has been outspoken about the lack of Native representation in the film industry from the beginning of his career, back when many Native characters were still portrayed by white actors wearing redface. He has been an adamant proponent of creating mainstream films that focus on a Native storyline. “The only change that I see is that Native people are becoming part of the solution, becoming the filmmakers, writing our own scripts,” he says. “Hollywood created us as the antagonist and the white people as the protagonist. I would hope that we as Native people would become interested in the arts, and that’s the only way we’re going to change it, unfortunately.”

Sonny Skyhawk

The Voice: Shawnee Talbot

Shawnee Talbot, a Mohawk from Six Nations Grande River, is a singer/songwriter whose hard work and powerful voice have lifted her to success. She’s performed across Canada and the U.S., has appeared on Disney TV and Canadian Idol, and was a supporting singer for the Glass Tigers Canadian tour, where she shared the stage with Lady GaGa, Roxette, and Tegan and Sara. Talbot, who openly identifies as Two Spirit, takes on some issues related to that in her single “Mirror Me,” which speaks to the struggle of self-identity. It has played on radio stations across North America, and was used on several TV shows, including Mohawk Girls. The official video was added to the popular Canadian music site Much Music, and hit number one on the Aboriginal Music Countdown in 2013. After releasing the single Canadian Cry in 2015, which addresses the Canadian government’s accountability for all the murdered and missing aboriginal women in Canada, Talbot performed the song on the Indspire Awards. She tells ICTMN that being selected as one of the 50 Faces of Indian Country is an honor. “Woah ! Nia Wen. [Thanks!] This is very special to me to be included in this list of people. I am inspired everyday by the powerful hearts and minds in the indigenous community. We can provide so much strength, energy and healing to each other and I am beyond grateful to be able to express my passions through music.”

Shawnee Talbot

USET President: Brian Patterson

Brian Patterson, Bear Clan, is on the Oneida Indian Nation’s Mens’ Council. Dedicated to the cultural and historical revitalization of the Oneida people, Patterson has worked diligently over the past two decades to ensure that his nation provides for the well-being of the seventh generation to come. In 2006, he was elected President of United South and Eastern Tribes (USET), and is involved with advocating for federal laws and policies regarding the proper repatriation of remains and artifacts, the protection of sacred sites and the promotion and protection of American Indian cultural identity. Clear purpose and intent establishes USET’s continuing mission to build capacity of member Tribal Nations leading to self-determination. USET is a leading advocacy organization with a strong foundation that gives voice to and advances a comprehensive policy and legislative affairs agenda reflecting the interests of USET Tribal Nations, their citizens, and Indian country. “Each and every one of us holds purpose and duty as we place our footsteps on Mother Earth,” Patterson tells ICTMN. “No matter how large or small that purpose may be we advance on that path from our ancestors forward. My duty and servitude is based on the deep-rooted knowledge handed down from our great prophet, the Peacemaker. The Peacemaker taught us that unity is the principal in any advancement. Unity has never been more critical than it is now as we come together across Turtle Island, to preserve and protect our water and homelands.”

Vincent Schilling

Brian Patterson

The Uncaped Crusader: Supaman

“Supaman” is the stage name for Christian Takes Gun Parrish, a Native dancer and innovative hip-hop artist who is a member of the Apsaalooke Nation. He calls the Crow reservation in Montana his home. As an artist who has dedicated his life to spreading a message of empowerment through culture and music, he has been the recipient of a Nammy Native American Music Award,
a North American Indigenous Image Award, and seven Tunney Awards. He was recently awarded The Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Award in Canada for best video. He was also voted as MTV’s
new Artist of the Week, in March of 2014. His videos for Prayer Loop Song and Why have received more than two million views on YouTube and Facebook with Prayer Loop Song grabbing nearly a million and a half. Supaman tours extensively throughout the U.S. and internationally; he has also performed at non-traditional venues such as the Google headquarters in San Francisco and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City. “I’m truly honored to be chosen as one of 50 Faces of Indian Country,” he tells ICTMN. “It goes to show you that no matter where you come from or what you have been through in life, if you start moving in the direction of wanting to impact people in a good way, you can achieve anything. The Creator will bless that desire. Our greatest fear shouldn’t be of failure, it should be of succeeding in life at things that don’t matter. A’ho!”

Adam Sings In The Timber

Supaman

The Short Film Queen: Tracy Rector

Tracy Rector (Seminole), is a filmmaker and Executive Director of Longhouse Media, a Washington State nonprofit indigenous media arts organization that nurtures Native artists. Since its founding in January 2005, Longhouse Media has produced more than 370 short films. Rector’s work has been featured on Independent Lens, at the Cannes Film Festival, ImagineNative, National Geographic’s All Roads Film Project and in the Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Indian. As co-producer of the award-winning film Teachings of the Tree People, producer of March Point and director of Unreserved, she has demonstrated that modern media and film can be powerful storytelling tools for Indigenous peoples worldwide. Rector has been honored many times. In 2009, she received the National Association for Media Literacy award for outstanding contributions in the field of media education (an award that was previously given to Jon Stewart and Bill Moyers). As a Sundance Institute Lab Fellow and recipient of the Horace Mann Award for her work in utilizing media for social justice. She says she was “blown away by the honor of being selected” for 50 Faces of Indian Country. “Art is not separate from life for many indigenous people. It’s as essential as food and water in many ways. It keeps us grounded and connected to creator and spirit.”

Courtesy Longhouse Media

Tracy Rector

The Star: Chaske Spencer

Chaske Spencer is perhaps best known for his extensive work as one of the infamous “wolf pack” werewolf-Native characters in the Twilight Saga films. After that show, he continued to blaze on the screen when he joined the police force on the Cinemax series Banshee, which aired its final episode earlier this year. Spencer, a member of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes, has four film projects coming out soon: New Amsterdam, Indian Summer, Walking Out and Addiction: A 60’s Love Story. In Indian Summer, he plays a mysterious U.S. Marine who seduces a family living on a remote farm in the Scottish Highlands in 1967. As a hot-list actor for over a decade who doesn’t show any signs of cooling off, Spencer has told ICTMN he feels a great appreciation for his achievements, ones that he has worked so hard for. “As a Native American,” he said, “I feel that we still have a long way to go in the entertainment industry because there is not a lot out there for us. But we do what we can. I have a lot of gratitude for the work that I get and where I am at in my career.”

Chaske Spencer

The Director: Taika Waititi

Maori director, actor and writer Taika Waititi is a skyrocket shooting to the top of his game as director of the upcoming Thor Ragnarok, the latest super-hero blockbuster from Marvel Comics. Waititi got an Academy Award nomination for his 2004 short Two Cars, One Night, and international exposure for his films Boy and Hunt for the Wilderpeople, two of the top-grossing films in New Zealand. He has also grabbed a slew of awards worldwide for his acting and direction of the hilarious vampire spoof, What We Do in the Shadows. Waititi told ICTMN that being chosen as director for Thor Ragnarok was, “truly amazing. This is a big deal for me, this is a big deal for our community and for any indigenous community. We don’t have that kind of representation—I feel as though it is about time, but being Maori you carry a lot of weight and expectation when you’re doing a film like this.” He said this opportunity to bring an indigenous perspective to a major movie franchise is a big step forward, and added that the film executives worked hard to bring young aboriginal people into the film’s workforce. “This is a large Hollywood film so you can only do so much,” he explained, “but you can do the best you can to have little bits and pieces added into the film. Just being who I am will serve as notice that we are here.”

Taika Waititi

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