In Our Own Skin

• Main Author: Kathlean, Jonah
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: ScholarWorks@CWU 2020
• Subjects: Anthropology; Film Production; Indigenous Studies; Social and Cultural Anthropology; tlingit
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/2020/COTS/8; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWxKSsLUOso

Based on research of the Tlingit, a Southeast Alaskan Tribe, this short anthropological documentary showcases contemporary Tlingit artists alongside their artwork. These artists express changes among Native American identity through their various forms of art and contribute to important discussions about what it means to be Tlingit today. This mini-documentary accompanies a larger student project that was delayed due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic. This project involved exploring the community of Tlingit members to better develop an understanding of how this community is threatened by a disappearing language. With a focus on Native American visual arts to showcase the importance of expressing culture through artistic mediums, this presentation is an intermediary project, based on phone interviews with our participants, existing interview footage from principal shooting, and other stock footage. It will include an introduction of contemporary Tlingit artists and their important contributions to Tlingit identity along with other Native American tribal artists located throughout the nation. This mini-project presents an opportunity to explore outside the Tlingit community to study what kinds of symbols and patterns other tribal artists around the country are including in their artistic expressions to represent a culture. In addition to showcasing the Tlingit, other Native American artists, and their contributions to discussions about indigenous identity, this short documentary will set in motion a series of artistic collaborative meetings in preparation for the larger project and production, the People of the Tides documentary. College of the Sciences Presentation Award Winner.