Indigenous Arts & Stories - jee kéé

I am influenced by my own experience of being a Dene Ndé woman in Canada.

The work jee kéé is inspired by the revitalization of the Ndé traditional corn maiden dance. The style of the dress is based on the traditional regalia of my people, the Lipan Apache Band of Texas. I am interested in revitalizing methods of growing traditional food, therefore, in this work, I have used corn husks from the corn my family grew and harvested last season. The corn seed itself has been passed down within my family for many years, going back as far as my great grandfather, and is traditionally grown in our territory.

Acknowledging the time and place of where my family currently resides, it is especially important that we still practice traditional ways of being. By using these materials, the corn husks, I acknowledge the history of my people and reclaim the ways in which the corn maiden and our regalia is perceived.