Location: CSWS Gallery, Free
The Center of Southwest Studies and Native Braids Storytelling Project will host a live podcast performance with Diné artist and 2024 National Endowment for the Arts Fellow Susan Hudson. As an artist, Hudson shares her “activist storytelling” through elaborate ledger quilts that honor her ancestors and illustrate the proud history of the Navajo people. She strives to chronicle the sacrifices and strengths of her family and remembers their hardships, exploring topics ranging from boarding schools to the Long Walk and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.
Hudson is a co-founder of the Navajo Quilt Project, which donates fabric to elders across the Navajo Nation, engages with the community to create quilts for traditional ceremonies, and empowers others to start their own businesses. Her own quilts have been acquired by the International Quilt Museum, Heard Museum, Autry Western Museum, Riverside Museum, and National Museum of the American Indian. She is also represented in the Gochman Collection, the John and Susan Horseman Foundation Collection, and many private collections.
Native Braids is a collaboration with KSUT and independent producer Adam Burke that brings together an array of Native American voices from across the Southwest through live storytelling events. Learn more about Native Braids.