Kintecoying Now (Fall 2024)

Henu Josephine Tarrant is a lifetime NYC native community member descending from the Rappahannock, Ho-Chunk, and Kuna nations. She will be sharing her newest original songs created for her EP SERPENT set to record in 2024. The songs she will be sharing are what she hopes becomes the soundtrack of the life of a spiritual indigenous femme surviving the urban landscape. Speaking to death, rebirth, empowerment, sexuality, and native cosmologies in the ever changing metropolis of New York City.

Kevin Tarrant: “Kevin, along with his siblings Michael, Donald, Kenny and Judy started dancing as a baby. Kevin became seriously interested in singing when he was around nine years old – “I had a little drum and used to sing around the house…and in order to dance you have to know the songs – the beats. The more songs you know, the better dancer you become. For me, the next logical step was singing”. He began singing with his uncle Louis’ Thunderbird Singers at thirteen. As the group began to travel around the country, he became exposed to other drum groups, other styles. Soon, he was buying as many Indian music tapes he could, and immersing himself in the many traditions of Native music. Later, while joining a drum group, he would learn first hand from other drums, other singers, and would soon be composing his own songs.” — from the Amerinda web page dedicated to Kevin Tarrant. Read more here.

Mariluz Guerra is an indigenous Kankuama woman from a small city of Colombia -Valledupar- with really warm weather, cold tap water and late December’s seasons of strong winds that inspired her searching through the audiovisual arts. Through her creative work she recognizes the inner shadows and lights for the inner and outer harmony which is the most important work of each human being. With this paradigm Mariluz can share different forms of self and collective expression through the Healing Cinema, always searching for better ways to support changes in the detrimental beliefs of our society. Always towards the light.

Murielle Borst Tarrant (Kuna/Rappahannock) is an author, playwright, director, producer, cultural artist, educator, and human rights activist. She works on the deconstructing of methods of the arts in Native communities in urban areas across the country, Canada, and in the New York City education system. She also consults with many urban and non-urban universities on the development of Native theater programming. Named in American Theater Magazine as one of the most influential women in American Theater, Borst Tarrant is the Artistic Director of Safe Harbor Indigenous Collective and consultant for La MaMa Experimental Theatre Indigenous Initiative.

Nicholson Billey (any pronoun) is of the Chahta and Mvskoke People of Oklahoma and is an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. While obtaining a MFA in performance + performance studies, Nic began to create and present his Native-specific performance work that utilizes various poly-focal fundamentals from the everydayness of Native relationality with aspects from drama therapy. Nic holds an MA in drama therapy, is a “retired, recovering drama therapist”, and is an ensemble and team member of Safe Harbors NYC.

Samuel St-Onge comes from the community of Uashat Mak Mani-Utenam. He is a multidisciplinary artist skilled in theater, music, painting, writing, and video production. His creative journey began in at the age of 16, when he was trained to do video editing and camera work. He spent years as a camera operator for InnuwebTV, capturing a wide range of community events. He also worked with La Boite Rouge Vif, where his footage was showcased in various museums.

He directed a short film, Desjouer le temps, with La wapikoni and had the honor of appearing in the film Kuessipan, which deepened his passion for the movie industry. Currently, he supports his band, Council, as a tech specialist, while continuing to explore new creative ventures.

Timothy White Eagle is  an artist of Indigenous and European heritage. He creates ritual theater, merging personal narrative and mythology while exploring contemporary issues and ancestral memory in search of ritualized healing. He tours internationally as a performance and visual artist, most recently with The Indigo Room, which premiered in NYC and Seattle, then in the Public Theater’s Under the Radar festival. A 2019 Western Arts Alliance Native Launchpad recipient, he has since been supported by residencies at Guild Hall, On The Boards, Town Hall, PICA’s Creative Exchange Lab, and La Mama Etc NYC. He has received grant support from the Public Theatre, Seattle Office of Arts, 4 Culture, and the MAP Fund Award 2023, among others. Timothy collaborated with and toured internationally with MacArthur Genius Taylor Mac on his Pulitzer Prize finalist “A 24 Decade History…” and “Taylor Mac’s Holiday Sauce.” His newest production, Indian School, premiers in Seattle in the Fall of 2024 at On the Boards, Seattle.

About the artists presented on October 3, curated by Relative Arts

Kintecoying Now Program Oct 3 PDF

Black Belt Eagle Scout
My Blood Runs Through This Land, 2022
Run It to Ya, 2019
Soft Stud, 2019
Katherine “KP” Paul (b. 1989, Swinomish and Iñupiaq) is a musician who releases music under the name of Black Belt Eagle Scout. KP is a Swinomish Tribal Member who grew up in the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. KP believes in singing from your heart and has released two records under the name Black Belt Eagle Scout. Her debut album Mother Of My Children was named as a “Best Rock Album of 2018” by Pitchfork, and garnered further end-of-year praise from FADER, Under The Radar and more. Arriving just a year after her debut record, At The Party with My Brown Friends found the power of its sound in love and friendship. Her most recent album is The Land, the Water, the Sky.@blackbelteaglescout

Cheyenne Rain LeGrande
Mullyanne Nîmito, 2022
Cheyenne Rain LeGrande is a Nehiyaw Isko artist, from Bigstone Cree Nation. She currently resides in Amiskwaciy Waskahikan also known as Edmonton, Alberta. Cheyenne graduated from Emily Carr University with her BFA in Visual Arts in 2019. She was selected as the winner of the B.C. prize for BMO 1st Art! emerging artist competition and has received the Moment Factory Award for her piece Nehiyaw Isko. Her work often explores the interconnection between history and the body. She works interdisciplinary; moving through installation, photography, video, sound, and performance art. @cheyennerainlegrande

Emily Johnson
Whale Story, 2023
Emily Johnson is an American dancer, writer, and choreographer of Yup’ik descent. She grew up in Sterling, Alaska, and is based in New York City. She is the artistic director of her performance company, Emily Johnson/Catalyst. Johnson is an organizer for the First Nations Dialogues New York/Lenapehoking. @emilyjohnsoncatalyst

ishkwaazhe Shane McSauby
Happy Thanksgiving, 2023
NIMKII, 2019
ishkwaazhe Shane McSauby is an American filmmaker and an enrolled member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. He was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Shane is a former Sundance Institute fellow and holds an MFA in writing and directing from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

His dark comedy, Happy Thanksgiving, has screened at eight Academy Award-Qualifying film festivals including the Woodstock Film Festival, Nashville Film Festival and Palm Springs International Shortfest, among others.

Shane is a Sundance Institute Indigenous Film Fund Fellow for his latest film, The Beguiling, which made its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.

Jeffrey Gibson
She Never Dances Alone, 2019
Jeffrey Gibson’s work fuses his Choctaw-Cherokee heritage and experience of living in Europe, Asia, and the USA with references that span club culture, queer theory, fashion, politics, literature, and art history. The artist’s multi-faceted practice incorporates painting, performance, sculpture, textiles, and video, characterized by vibrant color and pattern. @jeffrune

Korina Emmerich
Misshapen Chaos of Well Seeming Forms, 2022
Artist and designer Korina Emmerich founded the slow fashion brand EMME Studio in 2015. Her colorful work celebrates her patrilineal Indigenous heritage from The Puyallup tribe while aligning art and design with education. With a strong focus on social and climate justice, Emmerich’s artwork strives to expose and dismantle systems of oppression in the fashion industry and challenge colonial ways of thinking. @korinaemmerich

Laura Ortman
I Lost My Shadow, 2015
Laura Ortman is an American musician from Whiteriver, Arizona who lives in Brooklyn, New York City. She bridges the gap between music and fine art, which can be seen from her inclusion in fine art exhibitions such as the Whitney Biennial. @ortwoman

Mato Wayuhi
BOOGEY BOY, 2023
FALL OUT BOY, 2023
FEE FI FO FUM, 2024
Mato Wayuhi is a multidisciplinary artist originally from South Dakota. He works in film/TV both as a producer and musical composer, as well as writing his own music, garnering critical acclaim from NPR, Tidal, Amazon Music, and Apple Music. 
 Most notably, Mato is the composer for the award-winning FX/Hulu series Reservation Dogs and the feature-length film War Pony, which won the Caméra d’Or prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. He is also featured on the 2023 Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Hollywood & Entertainment. @matowayuhi

Razelle Benally
Raven, 2016
Inyanka Sni, 2020
Razelle Benally is an emerging independent filmmaker dedicated to creating stories. with strong Indigenous female protagonists and hopes to bring a new perspective to the male-dominated film industry that has a history of marginalizing Indigenous peoples. @razellebenally