Print has long been a tool of both colonial control and Indigenous resistance. Join us at the Filson as we bring together artists and scholars to explore the power of print in Native American communities—past, present, and future. Scholar and printer Mark Alan Mattes will share his recent critical and creative work, which examines how artists can critically engage colonial print archives to center Indigenous histories. Myaamia artist Megan Sekulich will discuss her career as an artist and designer, focusing on how her work’s continuation of Indigenous aesthetic traditions contributes to the ongoing cultural life of her Nation.
Following the discussion, the Filson is proud to debut a special collaborative limited-edition letterpress broadside designed by Sekulich and printed by Mattes (Hot Brown Press). Attendees will have an exclusive opportunity to purchase a print, with proceeds supporting cultural programming at the Myaamia Center, a Miami Tribe of Oklahoma initiative within Miami University.
Mark Alan Mattes is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Louisville. Mattes is the editor of Handwriting in Early America: A Media History (University of Massachusetts Press, 2023), and he recently won the Society of Early Americanists essay prize for his article, “Trees and Texts,” which thinks about the relationship between print archives and landscapes in Indigenous histories of the Ohio Valley. Mattes is also the founder of Hot Brown Press, a print shop and bindery in Louisville, KY.
Megan Sekulich (oonsaalamoona) is a graphic designer and artist at the Myaamia Center, Miami University. As the in-house artist for the Center, Megan works on a variety of culturally informed art projects for the Myaamia community, both on and off campus. Her personal artwork often focuses on the themes of growth, confusion, and acceptance regarding her identity as an Indigenous person.
