INDIANAPOLIS — At the corner of Prospect and Laurel in Fountain Square, a new space focused on reclaiming indigenous creativity and fostering community opened its doors in honor of Indigenous Peoples' Day.
Thunderbird Rising Studios is a tattoo studio specializing in traditional hand-poke tattoos. Owner and artist Stephanie Big Eagle made it a goal years ago that her tattoo studio would be one where the work of native artists could be put on display.
Now, that dream is a reality.
"It's really inspiring. I just feel like the time has come, and there's been so many times that I stood alone in the past. And to now see everyone coming to celebrate this and to gather as a community with this...it's very inspiring and exciting," Big Eagle said.
A traditional hand-poke tattoo artist for years, her first ever design of a thunderbird became an ongoing symbol for the water protests at Standing Rock in 2016. Within the physical layout of her new tattoo studio, Big Eagle didn't just focus on her work as a tattoo artist.
She intentionally created space for other indigenous-made crafts, paintings, beadwork, soaps and other items, to be sold alongside her tattoo bookings.
"The back is my studio and for hand-poke tattoo artists only. But in the front, this space, everything you see here represents an indigenous community or an indigenous artist," she said.
Having honed her skills across the country with support from other indigenous artists — sometimes from as far away as New Zealand — she now hopes the creators who supported her over the years have a place to find success in Indiana.
"I invite indigenous artists, locally and internationally, to share their work in here if they feel called to. And so it's a way for each of us to represent our culture and to share space in here as being the most underrepresented minority on an international level," Big Eagle said. "It's a safe space for everyone to come and learn and to ask questions. Everyone is welcome to come through that door. But you know when you're coming in here, you're seeing everything in here representing an indigenous community."
Sharing knowledge and culture within a larger community is at the heart of Thunderbird Rising Studios, as is pulling up for community when they need it most.
Big Eagle took time Monday to draw attention to an often overlooked crisis that's faced indigenous women for hundreds of years. The U.S Department of Justice found that indigenous women face murder rates that are more than 10 times the national average, with the majority of those crimes committed by non-Native people on Native owned land.
"We have a new young girl, or woman, go missing every day. We just want to raise awareness. Every one of us...knows somebody whose been missing or murdered in that way. And so we're just trying to raise awareness in a good way, but really honor that's something real for us. We hope that more people will stand with us," Big Eagle said.
Standing with community is something Big Eagle tried to facilitate at Thunderbird Rising Studios, where the items are indigenous-made, not just indigenous-inspired.
A distinction, Big Eagle said, that can make a huge difference in the lives of indigenous artists and communities.
When companies mass produce native designs, often illegally, corporations can make a big profit and leave native artists by the wayside.
"They're taking the work of the indigenous or native community, and they're mass producing it, which is problematic for us," Big Eagle said. "There's culture that comes with that. There's teaching that comes with our art. There's an entire understanding that is behind it ,so when it's mass produced, you're taking away from the cultural aspects that come with that."
At Thunderbird Rising Studios, that won't happen. Big Eagle said proceeds go straight back into the communities who made it possible.
It is a mission she knows will continue well beyond just one day, the community response she saw today was just a sliver of what she hopes the studio can become.
"I'm trying to create that space — to give native artists fair trade for their work. Which is, whatever they ask for, that's what they get from me. Then the people who come here and support, know they're supporting indigenous artists," she said.
To contact Stephanie Big Eagle, go to the Thunderbird Rising Studio website here. Those interested in getting a hand-poke tattoo can begin the booking process here.
