This gathering is part of a five-year project titled “Xóxelhmetset te Syewá:l | Caring for Our Ancestors: Reconnecting Indigenous Songs with Community and Kin” led by co-investigators Dr. Dylan Robinson (University of British Columbia) and Dr. Patrick Nickleson (University of Alberta)
I am more than grateful to have been asked to become a participant for this wonderful project. Caring for Our Ancestors merits praise and acknowledgement for this project/fellowship. I was able to spend a few weeks in the Bay Area assisting and collaboraintg with Tanya Lukin-Linklater, Dillon Robinson, Naveen Locheed and several other Indigenous artist from Turtle Island.
Through The Vale: Sacramento Area Artists Honor Their Indigenous Culture, opens at the SMUD Art Gallery, 6301 S Street, Sacramento, on Thursday, July 17, 2025.This exhibition showcases paintings, drawings, watercolors, ink, photography, new media, and mixed-media artwork by Indigenous artists from the Sacramento area: Elizabeth Davis, Koppa Enos, Ryan “El Dugi” Lewis, Meyo Marrufo, StanPadilla, Shanti Parks, Dominick Porras, Ruben Reveles, Devaney Rain Royalty,Gerald Stone, and Alan Wallace.The human experience, the natural world, and Indigenous wisdom are some of the themes explored here, highlighting the interconnectedness and wonder of life. The journey of these Indigenous artists is celebrated as they honor their heritage, pass down ancestral knowledge, and find new ways of expressionthrough their art.In Indigenous communities, art serves as a vital means of reclaiming agency and reaffirming identity. Engaging in artistic expression, whether through traditional methods or contemporary media, helps heal historical wounds, reconnect with ancestral wisdom, and overcome past hardships.
I’m happy to share with everyone an invitation to my artist talk on my recent fellowship with @folgerlibrary. The talk will begin at 8amPST / 11amEST May 30 2025LINKs in the BIO…In early May I returned to D.C. to the Folger Museum as a researcher to follow up with items that I requested from the collections vault, classical books on the Protestant artist and illustrator Theodore de Bry. De Bry who would become known for his narrative illustrations in conjuring up several Eurocentric-driven bodies of work (etchings primarily) in which the colonization of the Americas is seen as necessary and ordained. For the imaginative approach in which De Bry’s work was orchestrated in, surprisingly enough he never visited the Americas or left the continent of Europe for that matter. Yet De Bry’s imagery contains many historical and significant meanings that illustrates the Anthropocene and its historical context. De Bry hosted a printing Studio in Frankfurt during his lifetime between 1528-1598 works draws influences from other early 15th and 16th century painters, Johannes Stradanus and John White a both well-known illustrators who created early images of the Americas.
Curator Patricia Wood and I co-curated an exhibition featuring my on-going current project titled, Silvery Synthesis at the Kaneko Gallery, located within the art department of the American River College. This exhibition happened to also fall in line with Sacramento's annual Photography Month celebration. I am incredibly thankful for the support of the students and staff who helped assist in the preparation and closing of the exhibition.
Article from The ARC Current
For the opening reception of the exhibition, I asked my sister Andrea "Yaya" Porras to accompany me in a noise and performance.
I would like to take the time to acknowledge and share my gratitude for the support I have received from the American River College art department. Thank you so much for allowing my project, Silvery Synthesis to be a part of this year’s exhibition schedule at the Kaneko Gallery. Special thank you to Patrica Wood, chair of the art department for providing further support in bringing my elder sister @movimientoyaya (Yaya) and I together to share our work through engagement with students and faculty at public artworks on campus . Between the two movements Yaya began the first movement by opening the outdoor space with an informative routine, acknowledged the air, land and everything in between. She then began slinging an obscured web, entangling internal and confidential information of several Indigenous human remains housed on campus, which have yet to be rightfully repatriated. During the second movement, the web was unbound, recovered and finally released with a closing acknowledgment.
Here is clip of the performance on IG
As an Undergraduat at CSU Sacramento, I recall my work being exhibited at The University Union Gallery
which has served the community of Sacramento, CA. I am incredibly honored to have had an exhibition during February 2025
spring semester at CSUS, where I also am an adjunct instructor in New Media. This exhibition featured 65 of my photographic works
from the Silvery Synthesis collection. I am incredibly grateful for the staff, family and friends made through this engagement.
2025 Silvery Synthesis CSUS University Union
There are so many people who have helped me reach this destination, MNRHPA aka Banff, Alberta is a magnificent site to
be able to create several bodies of work during my 5 week stay. Even with 16 hours of daylight, for me, there was still not
enough time to cover all the ground within proximity of Sleeping Buffalo Mountain. I was fortunate enough to marvel the
northern lights - Aurora Borealis during the first week of the residency which initiated the first body of
digital photographs, parallax animations and video works.
Spring Visual Artist in Residence
HYPERALLERGIC REVIEW
by Nancy Zastudil
Porras is an interdisciplinary Chicano/Coahuiltecan artist whose work is tied to his lived experiences of connection within communities and to nature — for instance, his reflection upon recurrences like that of the smelt’s journey to the Smith River. He literally and figuratively frames the exhibition with rasquachismo art, using abandoned silkscreen frames and film developer hangers, mirroring the resiliency of community and tradition he portrays in his images. The approach is one of resourcefulness and imagination, seeing value in that which has otherwise been abandoned or cast aside.
I’m delighted to share this wonderful intertribal collaboration between @sacnahc , @solcollective and Luna Morrell for assisting in developing/coordinating the snaring workshop this week April 15-17 2024. Snaring is the process of imaginative trapping. Throughout the workshop we shared our thoughts, ideas and experiences while learning how to work with knots. Our conversations led into discussions on Indigeneity and retaining cultural practices with accessible materials. Netting, gifted as medicine, has assisted my artistic growth in overcoming unsettled situations throughout life. In sharing knowledge, each participant engaged in snaring creativity, pushing new concepts and ideas.
