Beyond the Lens: Cara Romero on Cultural Photography, Native Representation, and Visual Storytelling

The Battle for Hickory Ground: Ancestral Desecration, Sovereign Shields, and the Fight for Muscogee Sacred Space

This episode pulls back the curtain on the complex legal, historical, and procedural mechanics defining the ongoing crisis at Hickory Ground. The discussion centers heavily on how institutional frameworks like NAGPRA (the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act) can catastrophically fail the very communities they were codified to protect. Listeners will hear an analytical breakdown of how tribal sovereign immunity is currently being leveraged as a tactical shield by the Poarch Band to veil unlawful acts and evade accountability for site excavation from the courts. From a procedural standpoint, the speakers expose the clinical and disrespectful methods utilized by institutions handling excavated history. Rather than receiving proper repatriation, the remains of fifty-seven ancestors are currently stored in un-climate-controlled Rubbermaid tote boxes at Auburn University, where mold continues to spread. Furthermore, the university and developing entities have tactically weaponized bureaucracy by actively denying direct descendancy claims made by tribal leaders like Miko Thompson, creating high administrative barriers to stop the return of these bodies. The professional philosophy shared by the legal and cultural advocates in this episode demands a complete dismantling of double standards in historical preservation. They argue that if an institution excavated fifty-seven bodies from Arlington Cemetery and refused to return them, it would spark an immediate national outrage; thus, Native burial grounds must be afforded the exact same tactical protections and legal parameters as any mainstream white cemetery. True sovereignty, the advocates argue, cannot exist if a tribe destroys the baseline lifeways, languages, and ancestral respects that form the legal foundation of its political existence.

Beyond the Lens: Cara Romero on Cultural Photography, Native Representation, and Visual Storytelling

In this episode, Cara Romero details her meticulous and layered approach to building theatrical, high-production visual narratives. Formally trained in black-and-white composition, Cara adheres to the philosophy that if a visual concept does not function in monochrome, it will not succeed in color. However, she intentionally leans into an intense, highly produced use of color and controlled lighting. She explains that this polished aesthetic serves a specific tactical purpose: it acts as a universal language of the present, signaling to the viewer that Native people are thriving in the current moment, rather than existing only in the past. When translating a concept from her mind's eye into a physical print, Cara structures her production process with immense flexibility. She likens a live photo shoot to jazz improvisation, arriving with a "set list" of ideas but allowing the collaborative energy of her team and subjects to shape the final frame. Her subjects are almost exclusively drawn from friends and family, which fosters a critical environment of trust and vulnerability. Once a shoot wraps, Cara transitions to a separate, painterly editing phase in the digital or chemical darkroom, where she painstakingly selects the singular composition that contains the exact psychological and emotional connections she aims to evoke. Furthermore, Cara discusses her recent tactical pivot back to medium format black-and-white film and traditional cyanotype printing on silk. In a fast-paced digital era where artificial intelligence and technology are hurtling forward, she embraces the roundness of emulsion and chemical light reactions to capture a softer, slower dreamscape of her home community. For emerging Native photographers, Cara offers the practical advice to view investing in expensive gear and film not as a frivolous expense, but as a radical act of self-care and professional dedication.

Decolonizing Wealth with Edgar Villanueva

Edgar Villanueva’s story begins within the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, but his path was uniquely shaped by his experience as an "urban native" growing up in Raleigh. Being the only Native student in his school for most of his life, Edgar navigated a dual identity, spending summers in his tribal community while living a suburban life during the school year. It wasn't until college that he fully leaned into his heritage, joining Native student organizations and eventually leading his family through the process of formal tribal enrollment. His professional entry into the world of philanthropy was almost accidental. After starting his career in public health, he was recruited by a foundation to manage health grants. Initially, he viewed philanthropy through a "savior" lens, excited by the prospect of having millions of dollars to "save the world." However, as he moved deeper into the ivory towers of the industry, he began to see the disconnect between the wealthy institutions and the actual needs of the communities they intended to serve. The realization that philanthropy was often an extension of colonial dynamics led Edgar to write his groundbreaking book, Decolonizing Wealth. He recounts the internal struggle of being a Native man in a field built on stolen land and labor, and how that tension eventually fueled his mission to transform the industry. Today, his journey from a young man seeking his own cultural roots to a global leader in social finance serves as a powerful testament to the importance of indigenous perspectives in modern economics.

Native Now

Native art isn’t a relic. It’s a dispatch from the present — and the Rockwell Museum’s new exhibition, Native Now, makes that impossible to ignore. In this episode, host Joe Williams sits down with Amanda Lett, Curator of Collections and Exhibitions at the Rockwell, and Randee Spruce, Seneca Nation artist and independent curator, to unpack one of the most significant contemporary Native American art exhibitions in the museum’s 50-year history. Native Now brings together works spanning Indigenous landscapes, Native futurism, and the concept of “always becoming” — a phrase the curators chose specifically because it resists the idea that Native peoples and their stories are finished. The show features artists including Jeffrey Gibson, Virgil Ortiz, Wendy Red Star, and Theresa Baker, many of whose works appear publicly for the first time. Amanda and Randee speak candidly about what it meant to build a real curatorial partnership — one where the exhibition labels were written entirely from artists’ own words, where themes were reshaped until they felt true rather than academic, and where the Seneca Nation’s voice had a genuine seat at the table. This is a conversation about art, land, resilience, and what it looks like when a museum actually listens.

Loyal to the Soil: Native Storytellers and Social Justice: Inside Rena Flying Coyote Collective

On this episode of Beyond the Art, we sit down with filmmakers Ben West, alike mteuzi, and Yancey Burns from Rena Flying Coyote Collective, a Native-led nonprofit using film as a tool for social change. They share how their personal paths—from rural Appalachia and small Oklahoma communities to art school and public interest law—eventually converged through the acclaimed documentary Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascotting. Together, they unpack why mascots are not a matter of opinion but of public health, drawing on decades of research that links these images to depression, low self-esteem, and suicidal ideation among Native youth. The conversation then traces the birth of Rena Flying Coyote Collective and its four pillars: filmmaking, coalition building, education, and hands-on community workshops. Ben and Yancey describe touring Imagining the Indian across Turtle Island, building partnerships, and realizing the film needed to live on as classroom curriculum, not just as a one-time screening. They talk about their commitment to making sure Native communities are not just subjects in front of the camera but leaders behind it, and why the collective was founded specifically to help other Indigenous storytellers access tools, funding, and mentorship. From there, the group turns to the projects currently on their plates, including a powerful new documentary being filmed in Picher, Oklahoma, where Quapaw Nation is leading the cleanup of a massive Superfund site created by historic lead and zinc mining. They explore how environmental justice, land sovereignty, and Missing and Murdered Indigenous People intersect on this landscape, and share a preview of Loyal to the Soil, their film on Native military service and the disconnect between Native veterans and the systems meant to serve them. If you care about representation that moves beyond symbols into real-world impact, this episode offers both hard truths and active pathways to change.