Mahlija Florendo

Mahlija Florendo

My name is Mahlija Florendo from the Yurok, Siletz, Wasco and Karuk Tribes. I grew up on the Lower Klamath River Basin in Northern California, working as a youth organizer fighting for the rights of indigenous people through environmental and social change. I spent time working against the construction of the Jordan Cove/LNG pipeline in Southern Oregon, spent months living in Standing Rock during the fall/winter of 2017, and spent half of my life surrounded by the organizing and eventually organizing for dam removal on the Klamath River. I now reside as an artist and student in Oregon. Art is something that has been a constant in my life. It has become a part of my daily life, and something I will forever practice. It has become a huge part of practicing my culture. As Indigenous people who have fought to overcome the pain of colonization and genocide, we as contemporary people have found aspects of our life that speak to us and speak our old language in a way that we understand. For me art has been that ancient language of my ancestors that has been passed along to me to understand and to bring back to my people. I use many different mediums in my art such as watercolor, acrylic, jewelry making, cultural materials, and digital art. I currently run an online art business known as Indigenous Womxn Art.