Below you will find past and future webinars hosted by Awasqa. A special thanks to all our guests for their invaluable perspectives and participation:
Indigenous Women, Community Journalism, and Decolonizing Practices
September 21, 2021, 12:00 PT/3:00 ET
Note: The event will be held in Spanish with English interpretation, thanks to Belén Sáenz.
Andrea Ixchíu
Andrea Ixchíu is a member of the Maya K´iché people and the daughter of two human rights defenders. She is a Mayan activist, cultural manager, and communicator with university degrees in biology, legal science, and cinematography. She has been a journalist for Prensa OPAL, Midia Ninja, and op-ed columnist for the Periódico de Guatemala. In 2012, she was elected as the youngest indigenous authority on the Board of Directors of Natural Assets and Resources of the 48 Cantons of Totonicapán. She was also the protagonist of the documentary “500 years, Life and resistance of the Mayan people.”
She has collaborated in multiple community communication projects including Futuros Indígenas, Proyecto Panal, Festivales Solidarios, Paraíso Desigual, and others that promote feminist cinema. Through her Hackeo Cultural project, Andrea works for the communicative liberation of the indigenous peoples of Guatemala.
Matika Wilbur
Matika Wilbur is from the Swinomish and Tulalip Tribes. She is the founder and photographer of Project 562, a documentary project dedicated to changing the way we see Native America. After earning her BFA from Brooks Institute of Photography, Matika began her career in fashion and commercial photography in Los Angeles. She found herself “turned off” by the commercial world, and instead decided to use photography as a tool for social justice.
Project 562 is Matika’s fourth major creative project elevating Native American identity and culture. Her first project captured portraits of Coast Salish elders for “We Are One People” (2004, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington and The Royal British Columbia Museum of Fine Arts, Victoria, British Columbia); “We Emerge,” featured Native people in contemporary urban and traditional settings (2008, Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, Seattle, Washington); and “Save the Indian and Kill the Man,” addressed the forced cultural assimilation of Natives from 1880 to 1980 (2012, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, Washington).
Matika has offered over 300 keynote speeches since 2012, at institutions like Harvard University, Yale University, UC Berkeley, Google, and the National Education Association, and also has delivered several TED Talks. She is currently a National Geographic Explorer and recipient of the distinguished Leica Photo Award. Dispatches from Project 562 can be found on Matika’s Instagram account (@project_562), and she co-hosts the popular Native issues podcast All My Relations with Dr. Adrienne Keene and Dr. Desi Small Rodriguez, which invites guests to explore the connections between land, creatural relatives, and one another. Learn more at matikawilbur.com, project562.com, and allmyrelationspodcast.
Patricia Yallico
Patricia Yallico belongs to the Waranka people, Kichwa nationality. She studied as Director of Cinematography for Audiovisual Arts at the National University of the Center of the Province of Buenos Aires (UNICEN) in Argentina and graduated from the Institute of Film and Acting (INCINE) in Ecuador on Technology Production and Performance.
She is a member of the Ecuadorian indigenous movement, Confederation of the Peoples of the Kichwa Nationality of Ecuador (ECUARUNARI), and of the Corporation of Audiovisual Producers of the Nationalities and Peoples of Ecuador (CORPANP). Patricia is currently co-director of the Association of Film and Audiovisual Creators of Peoples and Nationalities (ACAPANA).
She has directed, produced, and written several fictional, documentary, and experimental cinematographic works.