{"id":143914,"date":"2026-01-22T01:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T01:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/143914\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T01:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T01:00:09","slug":"sustainers-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/143914\/","title":{"rendered":"Sustainers of Life –"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"QnR7VVHQ\"<\/a>Weshoyot Alvitre, Tongva Universe, Mixed media, ink, print. Photo courtesy of Angels Gate Cultural Center. Powerful exhibition puts MMIW at the forefront<\/p>\n

Angels Gate Cultural Center or AGCC\u2019s group exhibition, Sustainers of Life<\/a> opened in conjunction with the annual 2025 Many Winters Gathering of Elders, in October, and features contemporary Native and Indigenous women artists. Through diverse media, the exhibition creates space for both mourning losses and celebrating the ongoing resilience of those who nurture and protect life.<\/p>\n

The show will be on view until Jan. 24<\/p>\n

On Jan. 10, Sustainers of Life curators Laurie Steelink and Cecelia Caro. guided visitors through the exhibition alongside artist Linda Vallejo, exploring the powerful stories, creative processes, and urgent themes behind the works. The exhibition features seven indigenous or Native American identifying artists whose works specifically address this region. The works explore intersectional themes through installation, sculpture, photography, illustration, and painting.<\/p>\n

This powerful project took 18 months to come to fruition. The curators presented an in-depth walkthrough presentation of each of the works. Steelink noted that all native people, in some way, have relatives who have been affected by the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (or People, MMIW) in their lifetime and through ancestry too. This is not just on Reservations; it includes urban areas like Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Sustainers of Life filled the entirety of both AGCC galleries. Highlighted below are four works from this powerful exhibition.<\/p>\n

Tongva Universe, Mixed media, ink, print<\/p>\n

This piece was created in collaboration with the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach in 2023. The artist intended to visualize the Tongva Universe, encompassing all aspects of flora, fauna, water, and geography of the Tongva homelands, which includes the grounds at Angels Gate Cultural Center. Through a circular composition, the work repeats themes of returning home, returning to land, and reciprocating all our relationships therein.<\/p>\n

Weshoyot Alvitre is a Tongva and Scottish comic book artist, writer, and illustrator.<\/p>\n

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Reservation Dogs \u2013 Paxaavxa Wowooshi\u2019am (Tongva translation), Oil on canvas.<\/p>\n

This is a painting of the actor Devery Jacobs in her role as Elora Danan from the T.V. show Reservation Dogs. The artist included a Tongva translation of the show title, transporting her character to an iconic lake scene in Los Angeles<\/p>\n

Katie Dorame is interested in highlighting women native artists in film, and T.V. Dorame makes paintings and drawings that build her own directional vision: reclaiming, recasting, and reworking Hollywood and its land, roles, and history.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"KatieKatie Dorame, Reservation Dogs \u2013 Paxaavxa Wowooshi\u2019am (Tongva translation), Oil on canvas. Photo courtesy of Angels Gate Cultural Center.<\/p>\n

Womanfire<\/p>\n

Poetry, commissioned by the Fowler Museum at UCLA, Fire Kinship: Southern California Native Ecology and Art, 2025<\/p>\n

Womanfire explores the undertaking of healing after leaving an abusive relationship, relating the process to cultural burnings that encourage renewal, regrowth, abundance, and strength. Womanfire is a reworking of an existing piece, included in an anthology titled Anthology of feminist Perspectives Across Indigenous California, 2023.<\/p>\n

The poem is written in electrocardiogram-esque lines imitating Cahuilla basket patterns that depict hills and valleys within Cahuilla territory, while also paying homage to the \u201chills and valleys\u201d of the healing process itself. Clarke explores the dynamic between the harsh reality of violence affecting Native women and the beauty of the cultural art they create. Native women, though often survivors of violence, are resilient, powerful, and abundant\u2014much like the land. Womanfire is an homage to women, land, and healing<\/p>\n

Emily Clarke is an enrolled member of the Cahuilla Band of Indians and a Scorpio, traditional Bird Dancer, and avid believer in reading for pleasure. She is also a recipient of Hayden\u2019s Ferry Review\u2019s National Indigenous Poets Prize, a beadwork artist, and a community programmer<\/p>\n

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The Canopy, Installation<\/p>\n

Courtesy of the artist and parrasch heijnen, Los Angeles<\/p>\n

Linda Vallejo created The Canopy as both a space of grief and resilience, speaking to the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and the ways colonial histories have sought to erase Native and Indigenous identities. It honors survival, memory, and the sacred role of women as life-givers and knowledge-keepers<\/p>\n

Linda Vallejo is a painter, sculptor, and installation artist. Her career spans five decades and speaks to socio-cultural, socio-political, and eco-feminist issues.<\/p>\n

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Sustainers of Life addresses the impact of colonialism, motherhood, and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis while also celebrating individual stories of resilience and survival. In 2025, the World Health Organization reported nearly one in three women \u2013 estimated 840 million globally \u2013 have experienced partner or sexual violence during their lifetime, a figure that has barely changed since 2000.<\/p>\n

About the Curators<\/p>\n

Multidisciplinary artist Laurie Steelink identifies as Akimel O\u2019otham and is a member of the Gila River Indian Community. Steelink runs Cornelius Projects art space in San Pedro, is an active member of local Indigenous community groups, and has shown internationally.<\/p>\n

Cecelia Carois, the director of Exhibitions at AGCC, with a curatorial vision of radical empathy, presented by emergent artists and contemporary explorative media.<\/p>\n

Artists Weshoyot Alvitre, Emily Clarke, Katie Dorame, Eve-Lauryn Little Shell LaFountain, Cara Romero, CoreyStein, and Linda Vallejo create works that depict Native and Indigenous women as multidimensional beings.<\/p>\n

Time:10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday to Saturday<\/p>\n

Cost: Free<\/p>\n

Details: https:\/\/angelsgateart.org<\/a><\/p>\n

Venue: Angels Gate Cultural Center, 3601 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro<\/p>\n

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