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Monique SonoquieMixed Media
As a Chumash, Tongva Cultural Bearer working in Traditional Healing and cultural materials, my art works include: Baskets and Jewelry (Tule, Willow, Seaweed, Kelp); Sculpting (Recycled materials), and; Imagery (Paint, Photography). I am a member of the California Indian Basket Weavers Association and founded the Indigenous Youth Foundation Inc., whose purpose is to gather, teach and preserve cultural/environmental education/arts. Currently I teach arts and culture classes to Indigenous youth in the unceded Pomo Territories now known as Mendocino.
As a Basketweaver, I gather traditional materials but with limited access to gathering sites and materials due to toxins, land loss and climate change, I have found alternatives and alternative materials to preserve culture and land. My new found challenge and exploration is weaving with recycled materials, combining my passions of Traditional weaving and my dedication for “Refuse, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.” During my fellowship to the Institute for American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, I explored and expanded on representing Traditional lifestyles by reclaiming post industrial waste, and evolving from my recently created electronic cables baskets to life size sculptures. I will be repurposing my Pre-Colonial Post-Industrial Village Site at the 2023 Bioneers Conference. |