Raven Two Feathers, Two Spirit Artist
“My art and community work centers queer Indigenous and Two Spirit people, and when appropriate, invite others in to learn and recognize our contributions.” — Raven Two Feathers (he/they)
You have always been qualified to be yourself.
This is the core message of Raven Two Feathers’s collaborative project, Qualifications of Being. As a Two Spirit, Emmy award winning, filmmaker, and artist, Raven explores the intersections of Indigenous culture, tradition, history, and identities. They’ve described their artwork before as “a place for the worlds that are, and the worlds that could be meet.” With beautiful nuance and depth, Raven’s storytelling is a gift in the form of a reminder that we are all in continuous collaboration, contributing to and shaping each other in community.
In this interview, Raven shares their experiences with filmmaking, discusses how changemaking requires taking the time to know people, and reminds us why as a society we need to better understand how to compromise well and with the purpose to take care of each other.
Some of the questions have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Q: At this moment, what does it mean to be a changemaker?
A: Being a changemaker means taking the time and effort to engage with people you might not fully understand yet. Marginalized folks and people who have been put into dire circumstances that are outside their control must be better understood to affect true change. This space gives you room to talk to people that are like you and share similar ideas. There is no need for pitying others when having these discussions, instead this is an opportunity to get to know another person, and perhaps also yourself, better.
Q: Can you tell us how you got started with filmmaking? Who helped you and what inspired you to pursue filmmaking?
A: The first time I thought about filmmaking, according to my mom, was when I was 3. I attribute it to watching too much TV and seeing the credits pop up on screen; the first job I said I wanted was to be a producer. From then on, I had an on again off again relationship with thinking I could get into the industry. In 7th grade, I dove into taking a film elective class and never stopped since then. From playing around with the tools, came my education in storytelling, specifically in film. The teachers and mentors who really believed in me and recognized how to push me to do my best work are the reason I’m here today: Matt Lawrence and Tracy Rector were my formative teachers in showing me the very real possibility of working in film and being true to who I am.
Q: What is the most valuable advice you’ve been given that informs how you approach your work? What advice do you have for other aspiring filmmakers and artists?
A: The most valuable advice has come in two forms, deadlines and messing up. I’m notoriously bad at getting things done without a date staring me down. I hold to the ideal that it is better to finish something than try and perfect it, as the latter is the constraint all artists fail upwards with. There is no perfect, but there is, “I’m content with this.” If the piece gets the message and story across with the level of finesse and love I intended for it, then I’ll call it good.
Messing up often, especially early on when it’s deemed “more acceptable” has taught me a great deal about diligence and compassion. It has shown me how to salvage, how to apologize, and how to reflect and improve upon my actions. Hard lessons have ingrained things I wouldn’t be so steadfast on now. Compassion has shown me how concurrently strong and fragile beings are in this world, and to approach in a caring manner.
Art is collaborative in nature, even if you are a solo creator, as you always have an audience to keep in mind. Beyond that, none of us are strictly individual; from before we are born to when we return to the earth, we are in community with so many different elements at play. Lean on and remember those things and people that impact you. Reflection and thinking on them may or may not lead to a breakthrough. What it can do is help you come to a better understanding of yourself in the current moment (note: the work never ends as we are always changing). If you have someone you trust and want to bounce ideas off of, even better. My last bit of advice is that you find your support network and remember why you do what you do. Whether professionally or personally, art is an incredible resource and method to change our lives from purely survival into thrivance.
Q: What do we need to build a world of belonging?
A: To build a world of belonging, we need to learn how to compromise. There are times where there is too much or too little compromising. We need to let go of fear and thinking about what could happen. There are too many possibilities of what could happen and we shouldn’t stress about that. Finally, we need to embrace, care for, and trust each other, and most importantly trust ourselves.
About Raven Two Feathers
Raven Two Feathers (Cherokee, Seneca, Cayuga, Comanche) is a Two Spirit, Emmy awards winning creator based in Seatac, WA. Raven is originally from New Mexico, and they spent a lot of their childhood moving and exploring Indigenous cultures across the continent and Pacific. They continue to work towards re-normalizing the existence of Two Spirits and Native people on Turtle Island and internationally.
You can follow Raven’s work at:
Website: www.qualificationsofbeing.com
Social Media Handles: FB: @QualificationsOB, IG: @QualificationsofBeing, and IG: @Raven_Two_Feathers
This series is part of our ongoing effort to amplify stories from We the Changemakers. Raven was nominated as a Changemaker by the Potlatch Fund and The Seattle Urban Native Nonprofits.
