Cahokia Social Tech and Art aims to collaborate on projects for generational impact

Our next guest is Eunique Yazzie, an artist with Cahokia Social Tech and Art, an indigenous-led collaboration of artists and designers on Roosevelt Row in Phoenix. Cahokia’s goal is to collaborate on projects with a generational impact. We spoke with Eunique Yazzie earlier today.

Yazzie said the Cahokia space is the first gallery space that’s been built in over ten years in Downtown Phoenix, and is an indigenous led platform for creative place keeping and is led by the community and ambassadors.

“Placemaking is something that creatives do and the city does in correlation with the arts really designated a place in the neighborhood and really designating a safe place,” Yazzie said.

Yazzie said another goal is to provide representation for indigenous communities through place keeping

“A lot of times we aren’t acknowledged in spaces especially when we look back at American history and so for me place keeping just means we are coming back and trying to keep our place here,” Yazzie said.

Another goal of Cahokia is to create projects with a generational impact, which is done through the value based organization. The group leads by consensus and accepts a lot of insight from the community.

Yazzie personally said she wants to use her art skills in a more futuristic way than traditional art representations.

“What really separates the two between art and design is art has more of a personal narrative and personal cultural development of your idea you’re just trying to put it out there whereas design is there to solve a problem,” Yazzie said.

Yazzie identifies as herself operating in between these two spaces of art and design