Native Truths: Our Voices, Our Stories

Permanent Exhibition and Temporary Galleries

My Role

• Creative Direction

• Story Development

• Film Production

• Photography

• Collaboration with Indigenous Partners

• Production Planning

• Post-Production

Overview

Native Truths: Our Voices, Our Stories is a long-term exhibition at the Field Museum centered on Indigenous perspectives through community-led storytelling. As Creative Director for the exhibit’s media experiences, I led the creative development and direction of media across the exhibition, collaborating with curators, community advisors, designers, and media integration to shape a cohesive storytelling approach. Drawing from documentary and first-person storytelling, the media centers Native voices and lived experiences through film, interactive media, photography, and sound.

The Creator’s Game

I created original photography for The Creator's Game, an exhibition installation exploring the cultural significance of lacrosse within Native communities. Rather than simply documenting the sport, the goal was to create imagery that reflected both the athletic intensity of the game and its deeper cultural and spiritual meaning. Working closely with the exhibition team, I developed photographs that supported the exhibition's narrative while providing visitors with a contemporary visual connection to a living tradition that has been passed down through generations.

Tribal Nations Flag Installation

One of the signature media experiences I developed for Native Truths: Our Voices, Our Stories is a large-scale digital installation featuring more than 100 tribal flags representing sovereign Nations across North America. Displayed across a large-format media wall, the installation serves as a visual anchor for the exhibition. It welcomes visitors with a powerful expression of Native sovereignty and reinforces the exhibition's central mission: to elevate Native voices and celebrate the histories, resilience, and living cultures of Indigenous peoples today.

Removal Relocation Infographic Animation

The curatorial team needed an engaging way to convey complex cultural information in a clear, accessible format. The challenge was to create media that both honored Native voices and presented layered content in a visually dynamic way.

Working in collaboration with the motion design studio Tiny Wolf, I led the creative direction and oversaw the animation process to ensure the visuals aligned with the exhibition’s tone, narrative, and cultural sensitivity. The final animation became a central storytelling tool within the exhibition, helping visitors absorb key ideas quickly while deepening their understanding of Native perspectives. Its clarity and visual richness supported the museum’s mission to foreground Indigenous voices in an impactful and accessible way.

Natives in Chicago

For the rotating gallery Natives in Chicago, I photographed members of Indigenous communities living in the Chicago area, creating intimate portraits that reflect the diversity of Native experiences within the city.

As part of the media experience, participants shared their stories through first-person interviews, speaking about their identities, communities, and experiences as Native people living in Chicago. They also contributed personal photographs and images that offered a deeper look into their lives and connections to their communities.

My approach was rooted in documentary storytelling. Rather than presenting Native identity through a single narrative, the media gives each participant space to speak in their own words and share the aspects of their experiences that are meaningful to them. Photography and personal archival images work alongside the interviews to create a more intimate and personal connection between visitors and the people featured in the gallery.

The result is a collection of first-person stories that brings contemporary Native voices into the exhibition and challenges visitors to understand Native life through the perspectives of the people who are living those experiences today.

Natives are Everywhere

Natives Are Everywhere is an interactive media experience featuring a series of animated videos that bring contemporary Native voices into the exhibition through personal stories and oral histories.

As Creative Director, I shaped the creative vision and storytelling approach for the experience, working closely with the motion design studio Tiny Wolf to translate each speaker’s story into animation. Because the stories were deeply personal, the creative process centered on finding a visual language that could honor the individuality of each speaker while creating a cohesive experience across the series.

I collaborated with Tiny Wolf throughout the development of the illustration and animation style, providing creative direction on how the visuals could support the voices and narratives at the center of each piece. The finished installation gives visitors an intimate way to engage directly with Native voices. By combining oral histories with expressive animation and interactive media, Natives Are Everywhere creates space for reflection and dialogue while highlighting the ongoing presence, resilience, and perspectives of Native communities.