In this episode we are continuing our third series where we talk with southeastern folks who have received and bear their traditional tattoos. We are speaking with Isabella Aiukli Adams (Choctaw) regarding her experience. We are also joined by guest hosts Britt Postoak (Mvskoke) and Anja Littlecreek (Mvskoke).
Isabella Aiukli Cornell is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, and a young activist. She is the organizing member of Matriarch, and inter-tribal non-profit based in Oklahoma. In 2018, her Junior prom dress garnered national attention which highlighted the crisis of violence against Native women.
Isabella has been participating in activist movements against the epidemic of violence faced by Native American women and girls since the age of 14. She became an organizing member of Matriarch, an intertribal organization of women from different tribes, co-founded by Isabella's mother, Sarah Adams-Cornell.
Isabella Aiukli Cornell made a strong political statement at her prom in 2018 with a red dress bearing symbols of her Choctaw heritage. Cornell worked closely with the designer, Della Bighair-Stump, an indigenous designer belonging to Crow tribe, to create the applique design. The dress is a symbol of many indigenous women who have disappeared or have been murdered but never accounted for.
Isabella also created the skirt that Deb Haaland wore at the inauguration of President Joe Biden. She now runs Aiukli Designs - creating ribbon skirts for folks to wear.
If you've not yet listened to our first series, we encourage you to do so as it will deepen the conversation in this episode and all episode since the start of series two. The first series covers the history of native people in the US and southeastern peoples specifically. Additionally, series one discusses the intersections between southeastern tattoo history, mainstream tattoo history, and colonization.
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Isabella Aiukli Adams:
Brit Postoak:
Anja Littlecreek:
Inchunwa: