Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut (1966- 2023)

Medium:
Black vintage dress and slip, black paint, hand-typed beads, ball chain, glass beads, vintage ribbon, abalone shells, dentalium, black mussel shell.

Courtesy of the artist
Once called Lolita, then Tokitae, and now Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut, she was taken from L-pod in 1970 and has been held at Miami Seaquarium ever since. She continued to sing her L-pod family song, learned from her mother as a baby. The Lummi Nation and individual Lummi advocates have taken legal, cultural, and community actions—including NAGPRA claims, press conferences, and a Totem Pole Journey—to bring her safely home to the Salish Sea, with guidance from ancestral wisdom and science. 

“We promised when you hear a drum, it’s your heartbeat, it’s our heartbeat, you know you’re not alone, we love you, your people love you, We’ll bring you home.”

Toki is survived by her L-pod relatives in the Salish Sea, including L25, believed to be her 95-year-old mother.

MEDIUM
Hand-typed and rolled beads, word for word, from Marcellus Williams’ poem “The Perplexing Smiles of the Children of Palestine”.

COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
From Ancestor Marcellus Williams’ powerful and heartbreaking poem ‘The Perplexing Smiles of the Children of Palestine’. These beads were made the week of his execution. As I mourned him, I typed and rolled them to honor his life and unjust transition, uplifting him as the true warrior he was in this realm. Max he forever rest in power and continue to guide us.

MEDIUM

Hand-rolled beads from printed vision board on resume paper, wire, dentalium, glass, seed, and crystal beads, juniper berry beads, vintage and turquoise beads from personal collection, leather strips, lapis lazuli

COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

Inspired by the concept of a vision board, this work creates a tangible way to carry aspirations and goals—transferring energy from the page into a form that can be held, prayed with, and carried forward.

MEDIUM

Hand-rolled paper beads from report, crystal beads, wire, juniper berry beads, kota, juniper, lavender sprigs, abalone, vintage burlap fertilizer sack dress costum

COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

This work acknowledges that violence against women is not traditional in Native communities, and calls attention to colonization and genocide as root causes of violence against Indigenous women.

MEDIUM

Hand-typed and hand-rolled paper beads from Pamela Foster’s testimony, layered with pages of the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act, with abalone discs, ball chain

COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Each bead is a hand-typed word, repeated four times to honor each direction, from Pamela Foster’s March 2022 testimony on behalf of her children, Ashlynne and Ian Mike. Following the tragic loss of Ashlynne, Foster helped enact the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act, which strengthens tribal access to AMBER Alert training and integration with state plans. These beads contain her testimony, layered with pages of the Act itself, transforming words of grief into a call for justice and protection.

Ms. Foster said, “I made a promise to [Ashlynne] that I would do my part to fix the loophole that exists in the system. I would fight for an AMBER Alert for Indian country.”

Ah-nah-gohp-tahn • (Dakotah, “To Listen”)

MEDIUM

Metal vintage megaphone (10 × 5½ in.), hand-rolled beads, white buckskin, porcupine quills

COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

This sculpture, made from hand-rolled paper beads of the 2018 MMIW Report, transforms painful statistics into ceremony, honoring survivors, families, communities, and ancestors while fostering dialogue and healing. Porcupine quills at the megaphone’s mouth symbolize the danger Indigenous women face when speaking out and the urgent need for accountability.

Awarded the Justice Through the Lens of Native Artists Initiative, First Nations Development Institute, Spring 2023.

MEDIUM

Hand-typed and rolled beads from the Rising Star poem, written for John Trudell by his daughter, on resume paper, with typewriter, ball chain

COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

Tara Trudell spent the last week of her father John Trudell’s life with him before his passing on December 8, 2015. This poem carries the emotions, memories, and energy of that time—bearing witness to his transition while also reflecting on the complexities of their bond. In her words, she honors both the grief and the peace that came from being present with him, transforming personal loss into remembrance and connection.