Daybreak Star Gallery: MIA SUTANTO "Anywhere But Here"

Daybreak Star Gallery: MIA SUTANTO "Anywhere But Here""Anywhere But Here" refers to my current feeling surrounding the political climate of this country. But unlike many others who may share these feelings I cannot leave. As a Zuni woman, it has been passed down to me that we have a responsibility to stay here and protect our land. Because as Indigenous people, we are its safe keepers. I am a mixed Indigenous (Zuni Pueblo and Chinese Indonesian) contemporary 2 D digital artist, painter, and poet

"Anywhere But Here" - refers to my current feeling surrounding the political climate of this country. But unlike many others who may share these feelings - I cannot leave. As a Zuni woman, it has been passed down to me that we have a responsibility to stay here and protect our land. Because as Indigenous people, we are its safe keepers.

I am a mixed Indigenous (Zuni Pueblo and Chinese Indonesian) contemporary 2-D digital artist, painter, and poet originally from Naperville, IL. Through this exhibition, I wanted this body of work to explore themes concerning femininity, my mixed cultural identity, and mental health awareness. I first felt compelled to include the color red as a focal point in a lot of the paintings to represent how anger can be a healthy emotion that deserves space and can transformed into something meaningful. I want to convey and draw attention to how it feels when your culture is matriarchal but, you still see so much violence and disrespect towards women and young girls in your community. With all of the missing cases of relatives which only receive minimal news coverage, the mesage that is conveyed, is that your existence is unimportant.

A majority of my work centers around women, but I also include representation of male figures that represent relatives that I admire.