Our Mission
URBAN x INDIGENOUS (UxI) is an intercultural multidisciplinary platform of exchange that celebrates artists, activists, healers, knowledge bearers, and culture keepers working in the intersections of decolonization and re-indigenization in the global diaspora. Our purpose is rooted in collective ancestral wisdom and liberation as a daily practice. We are committed to centering indigenous practices and contemporary rituals for the healing of humanity and the preservation of Mother Earth and our future generations.
UxI 2015: Spirits of the Streets
Jack Gray, UxI 2018: Unite the Tribes
In 2015, SAMMAY put a call out to “the next generation of movers, shakers, and believers to remember those who lived before us so that we may breathe in the life force of today.” After life-changing experiences in her own decolonizing and re-indigenizing journey with Maori contemporary artist and scholar Jack Gray - she deepened her inquiry and reflected out what had been stirring within:
How do we thrive in a time and place that shoves our ancestral connections and indigenous ties to the side? What can we do as a community to ensure our earth is replenished and not a free-for-all wasteland driven by for-profit and for-politics?
Why is it important for us to embrace our indigenous selves and find ways to integrate our urban lifestyle into our ancient ways? Who then do we become once we finally feel that we are fully whole as urban-indigenous dwellers? Who do we become if we are not willing to be at peace with this at all?
Since answering this call - the annual URBAN x INDIGENOUS festival in Unceded Ohlone Territory (San Francisco Bay Area) has furthered this inquiry in community through art, performance, dialogue, workshops and through these questions of liminality - has transcended time, space, borders, cultural and generational lines.
* Gratitude to Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center and California Arts Council for your ongoing support.