• Jordan Traut, English Graduate Assistant and AAUW Director of Special Programs (project creator, coordinator, non-voting member) 
• Dr. Kaitlin Mondello, English Eco Studies Professor 
• Dr. Amber Nicole Pfannenstiel, English Composition and Rhetoric Professor 
• Michele Santamaria, Learning Design Librarian and Assistant Professor, McNairy Library
• Colleen Medicine (Ojibwe, Anishinaabe), Association on American Indian Affairs Program Director
• Carolyn Rittenhouse, M.S.W. (Lakota Sioux), Advocates for Native Nations
• Winnona Piazza, High School English Language Arts Teacher, Milton Hershey School

• Art Submission Application opens on March 1st, 2022
• Art Submission Application closes on April 1st, 2022 at 11:59pm
• Judging April 2nd-4th, 2022
• Winner announced via their preferred method of communication by April 5th, 2022 
• Dress Fabrication begins April 6th, 2022
• Made in Millersville Conference April 12th, 2022
• Red Dress Reveal and Reception on May 5th, 2022 (National MMIWG Day) with the artist invited to attend and speak (fully funded by the project)
• Red Dress and Dedication Plaque permanently mounted in the College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences building, McComsey, outside the Dean's Office 

The Competition

$500.00 will be awarded to the selected artist for their work. Working with the artist via their preferred method of communication, we will incorporate the winning design on the red dress in the display under their advisement. Ideally this means submissions must be transferable to red fabric. Simple single color/line drawings may be best suited for this project. However, we do not want to limit your art, so all mediums will be considered. (I.E. If you want to hand-paint a red dress that you own and submit a photograph of it, it will be considered so as long as you are willing to give the entire final product to the university for the display.)

We are only accepting the following file formats: jpg, png, and pdf.

Selecting the Design

Eligible individuals must self-identify as Indigenous American and be aged 24 or younger. Student status is not required. Only one submission per artist will be considered. Our panel is comprised of University faculty and student women. We also have one guest judge from the Association on American Indian Affairs.

Note: We are not judging your art because art is subjective. We will select a winner based on how well the design aligns with the goals and mission of the MMIW movement as well as how practically it can be applied to the red dress for the display. A small essay component is required. Artists will retain ownership of their design, but the university will own the red dress displaying the artwork on it.

Contact

English Graduate Student Jordan Traut (she/her),the project creator, at jetraut@millersville.edu with any questions. 

Artist: Jamie Ray John (Anishinaabe & Korean 2 Spirit)

Jamie is an enrolled member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. They are Kitchwikiiwedong Anishinaabe, meaning, the "People of the Big Bay" in English. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ART: Honoring MMIWGT2s and THE artist's maternal lineage

The design features four women, made to honor the Indigenous women in the artist’s own lineage. At the top is Nokomis, modeled after their great-grandmother, Alice. On either side of her are seven stars, representing the concept of the Seven Generations. On the matriarch’s shawl is a bear – the artist’s clan animal, associated with healers and water protectors. The woman with the hummingbird is the artist’s late auntie. She had a deeply spiritual connection to the hummingbird. In her raised fist she holds a sage bundle, a sacred plant medicine to the nations of Turtle Island. To the right of her, stands the sister with the butterfly on her shawl. Butterflies are part of the story associated with fancy shawl dancing, a tribute to the artist’s auntie who used to dance, along with all the other culture carriers lost to this crisis. In the center is the artist’s mother, a land defender, water protector, and survivor. Instead of wearing a shawl, her form encompasses the land and the sky, as if to say, "we are the land."

Dress: handmade by carolyn rittenhouse (lakota sioux)

Carolyn Rittenhouse gifted the red dress she handmade for her niece and daughter's Isnati Awicalowanpi (Becoming a Woman Ceremony) to the project. After the art is screen printed onto it and the display is revealed at the reception, pictures will be available here.

While all MMIW and MMIWGT2S red dresses are important symbols creating spaces where we can remember and honor Natives who were taken and who have passed together, the red dress in the Millersville display is sacred because of its life before the exhibit's creation. It's mother-daughter spirit and energy empower the movement and the art on it. 

Do you want to learn more about this concept - the spirit of an object? The First Americans Museum (FAM) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma has an exhibit, in their Mezzanine Gallery, entitled "WINIKO: Life of an Object" (2022). Learn more from their website by clicking here. 

Jordan Traut speaking at the event on May 5th. Photo credit: LNP 2022

Carolyn Rittenhouse and Leeanna butcher rittenhouse speaking at the event on may 5th. Photo credit: LNP 2022

Event Program and highlights

• Jack Richardson (Haliwa-Saponi), Ceremonial Drum Song Blessing
• Dr. Kaitlin Mondello, Introductions on behalf of the American Association of University Women
• Jordan Traut, Ethical student scholar-activism and the project's inspiration 
• Jamies Ray John (Anishinaabe & Korean 2 Spirit), MMIWGT2S Movement and their artwork's relevance to the cause
• Carolyn Rittenhouse (Lakota Sioux), Lakota Isnati Awicalowanpi (Becoming a Woman Ceremony) presentation and handmade dress 
• Danielle Rittenhouse Carr (Lakota Sioux), Jingle Dress Dance
• Traditional Diné blue corn cookies made by Rochelle Garcia (Diné) of Blue Corn Custom Designs

May 5th, 2022.

This red dress honors the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) movement across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The physical dress was made by Carolyn Rittenhouse (Lakota Sioux). It was originally used for her daughter and niece’s Isnati Awicalowanpi (Becoming a Woman Ceremony), a traditional Lakota Sioux ceremony.

The artwork printed on the dress, designed by Jamie Ray John (Anishinaabe and Korean 2Spirit), is a call to all of Millersville University to always respect Native Voices and experiences in our classrooms and on our campus. The artist says, “The epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Girls Trans and 2 Spirits (MMIWGT2S) is connected to our fights as Indigenous peoples for sovereignty over our ancestral lands, languages, and traditions. Part of growing up in my community meant knowing people who went missing and Native women who were murdered by their partners and going without answers, oftentimes for years. It's rare to find a Native family who doesn't have a relative who has gone missing or has been murdered; this is the continuation of our genocide. What many don't understand is that it's never just our women who go missing, it's more than our mothers, sisters, aunties, grandmas, and cousins; it's our water protectors, land defenders, powwow dancers, language speakers, and ceremony holders that our communities lose when our people disappear.”

The design features four women, made to honor the Indigenous women in the artist’s own lineage. At the top is Nokomis, modeled after their great-grandmother, Alice. On either side of her are seven stars, representing the concept of the Seven Generations. On the matriarch’s shawl is a bear – the artist’s clan animal, associated with healers and water protectors. The woman with the hummingbird is the artist’s late auntie. She had a deeply spiritual connection to the hummingbird. In her raised fist she holds a sage bundle, a sacred plant medicine to the nations of Turtle Island. To the right of her, stands the sister with the butterfly on her shawl. Butterflies are part of the story associated with fancy shawl dancing, a tribute to the artist’s auntie who used to dance, along with all the other culture carriers lost to this crisis. In the center is the artist’s mother, a land defender, water protector, and survivor. Instead of wearing a shawl, her form encompasses the land and the sky, as if to say, "we are the land."

This dress is a reminder that MMIW and MMIWGT2S does not exist in a vacuum. It calls on us to combat and eradicate the circumstances that allow Native women, girls, transgender and 2spirit people to disappear. The artist encourages us to “talk about strengthening Indigenous sovereignty and land justice.”

May this installation serve as a symbol of Millersville’s commitment to making our Indigenous community feel seen, heard, and valued at all levels of the university. Many thanks to those individuals and organizations involved in the creation of this installation.

Miigwetch. Pilamaya. Thank you.

American Association of University Women, Special thanks to Advisor Dr. Kaitlin Mondello and President Amy Denney (campus chapter)

English and World Languages Department, Special thanks to English Graduate Coordinator Dr. Nicole Pfannenstiel 

President's Commission on the Status of Women, Special thanks to Interim Director Dr. Emily Baldys

Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program

President's Commission on Cultural Diversity and Inclusion

The Arts At Millersville: The Ware Center, Special thanks to the Wickersham-Burrowes Fund for Excellence in the Arts

College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, Special thanks to the Dean's Office

Student Government Association

 

Become a scholar-activist. Check out these student organization's Get Involved @ MU pages today!

American Association of University Women

2022 President: Amy Denney

Advisor: Dr. Kaitlin Mondello 

Seeking students interested in leadership positions for the 2022-2023 academic year. 

 Friends of Advocates for Native Nations 

Advisor: Carolyn Rittenhouse (M.S.W.)

Seeking students interested in leadership positions for the 2022-2023 academic year. 

WTIF Radio Broadcast:

Millersville exhibit brings attention to missing and murdered indigenous women

English Graduate Program Blog: 

Supporting Scholarship with the Arts: English Graduate Students Attend World Premiere of all-Native Musical, Distant Thunder, at First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Lancaster News Paper: 

Message sewn in red: Millersville hosts event honoring missing Indigenous women

Millersville to display a handmade red dress, Indigenous art that honors missing and murdered Indigenous women

Oldest Non-Profit Serving Indian Country:

• Association on American Indian Affairs

Indigenous Youth Organizations:

• We R Native 
• Center for Native American Youth Washington D.C. 

Legal and Literary: 

• Deer, Sarah et all. Sharing Our Stories of Survival: Native Women Surviving Violence. AltaMira Press, 2007. This book is part of "The Tribal Legal Studies Program...initiated in 1998 as a collaborative effort between the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Native Nations Law and Policy Center, the Tribal Law and Policy Institute, and four tribal colleges (Turtle Mountain Community College, Salish Kootenai College, Diné College, and Northwest Indian College) to develop, pilot, and implement Tribal Legal Studies curricula at tribal community colleges," as stated on the resource linked to the previous book citation.  
• National Indian Law Library

Violence against Native Americans: 

• Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women
• Operation Lady Justice, The Presidential Task Force on Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives (archival, no longer being updated by the US government)*
• Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons, US Department of Justice*

Museum Resources: 

• First Americans Museum: FAM Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian, Washington D.C and NYC*
• Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, Canada*
• Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA*

*These resources, marked with an asterisk, are not exclusively all-Native. Be mindful of this when researching.