Quannah Chasinghorse’s face is the first thing people notice about her. I do, too, because her screen—she’s joined from Paris, where she’s walking at Fashion Week—cuts off the top of her head. I can see her narrow chin and her face tattoo. Melanie Titus made her beaded earrings. Chasinghorse wears a white mesh top and burgundy bralette with black pants. She looks like a streetwear model, but she is also like many rez girls I know and admire: tough and sweet. She smiles when she adjusts the screen and her entire face is bright and genuine.
Chasinghorse was 14 when she received her first Yidįįłtoo, a traditional face tattoo done by her people. Her mother did it. The tattoo was a rite of passage she could have received at a younger age, but she decided to wait until she was old enough to defend it, “because I knew that if people knew I got [it] younger, they wouldn’t have accepted me. Like, ‘A 12-year-old with a tattoo on her face?’” She smirks at the ignorance she’s encountered.
Some people don’t like the limelight, but it seems that Chasinghorse has been preparing for this her whole life. The 19-year-old model is a warrior in her culture and for the land her people have inhabited for thousands upon years. She’s Hän Gwich’in and Sicangu Oglala Lakota. Raised by strong matriarchs, she’s a fourth-generation land protector for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in her home state of Alaska. Jody Potts -Joseph, her mother, has been involved in cultural reclamation since Chasinghorse’s birth. She also took her dog mushing as a child. At this past Fashion Month, Chasinghorse appeared on the runways of Chloé, Savage x Fenty, Gabriela Hearst, and Prabal Gurung, and became the first Indigenous woman to walk for Chanel, tweeting that the experience “[made] me feel comfortable, seen, and beautiful!” For many Native Americans, and Indigenous people across the globe, this much light falling on a fierce advocate for our issues makes us feel seen, too.
Chasinghorse has a distinctive tattoo. She is the first girl of her tribe to reclaim the tradition. It was also her mother’s first tattoo. Since then, she has tattooed many Indigenous persons, including land protectors. Reservation Dogs star Dallas Goldtooth). Traditionally, a tattoo would be given to a Hän Gwich’in girl between the ages of 12 and 14 to mark her passage into womanhood. The practice was banned by missionaries in the 19th century and 20th century, along with many other traditions and languages. The vertical lines down Chasinghorse’s chin represent a reclamation of a culture once shamed, and they make her look like a warrior when she walks the runway or defends the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on Capitol Hill or drops a “Sacred Lands Not for Sale” banner in Times Square with a raised fist. She advocates for her people and the land at every opportunity. “I grew my platform through my advocacy work, through being a land and water protector and showing up,” she says. “That’s what got me attention and started my career. Being able to live my dream and continue that important work is all I could ever ask for.”
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“It all started when I was really young,” she adds. In seventh grade, she convinced her school to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day by showing up to a meeting the school board was trying to keep under wraps and speaking out forcefully enough to change minds and get an elder from her community on board. Chasinghorse and other Native kids celebrated by coming to school on Indigenous Peoples’ Day in their regalia and moccasins. “I’ve never been that proud of being Native in my life,” she recalls. “I was so proud to be who I was.”
Chasinghorse is aware of the importance and power of one voice at the correct time and place. Chasinghorse, like many warriors and protectors, is meant to be famous and have the platform that it brings. Her looks are more than striking; they’re proudly Indigenous, and the fashion world seems ready for us, finally. Although Natives and their ancestors have been long fetishized by fashion, this is a new approach. This is a young woman who has a voice and the intelligence to celebrate her culture in a real way. She is being celebrated on the runway and in campaigns.
She speaks with wisdom that comes from a direct connection with her land and her people. She tells me about her ties, about her people’s potlatch ceremonies that help to guide loved ones into the spirit world (a traditional feast or gathering once banned by both the Canadian and U.S. governments), and all the ways her mother and aunties have helped her stay true to Indigenous beliefs and traditions. She also talks about her role in the climate movement. While young activists like Greta Thunberg have brought attention to the climate crisis, “There are always Indigenous people showing up, doing the work, and I don’t think we get enough recognition… Our voices are constantly being pushed away because people don’t take us seriously,” she says. “We’ve always been a stereotype, a mascot. We’ve always been not seen as real humans. It motivates me to be a part of the change and encourage other Indigenous youth to speak up. It keeps me wanting to keep doing what I’m doing.”
When she talks about her modeling work or representing Indigenous people at the Met Gala, she’s happy, but when she talks about the land and her people, she beams. She tells me about her first caribou kill, another rite of passage she’s reclaimed. Her uncle had just died, and she was driving his body home with her family to rest. “It was such a beautiful night by the time we got to the summit, which is way above the tree line. It’s very beautiful; there’s just mountains. We made it to the top and had about 30 miles to go before we reached our village. Our uncle was sitting in the back of our truck, his casket in hand, when we suddenly found ourselves surrounded with caribou. Where we were, where the caribou came to us, was his family’s land back then, so it was such a ‘wow’ moment. We were able to get three caribou to bring back to the village, and I got my first caribou that night.”
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That might seem like just a hunting story to a non-Native, but to an NDN like me it’s a sign; it’s a sacred thing for many—the meat goes to the people and feeds a community, and providing that meat is an honor Chasinghorse could finally fulfill. Without the caribou, her people don’t have tradition, or a way of life they still depend on. Chasinghorse will tell you about the land and how, on her hunts since, she’s noticed insects not native to Alaska. She’s smart enough to tell you how the world is changing, how people she knows are being displaced by ice melt and the thawing of the permafrost in her home state, how communities are being ravaged by climate change. She can speak to how life is changing faster than we can comprehend, and she’s pragmatic enough to tell us what we can do to help. It’s time to listen to her, and the Indigenous people who have been telling the truth for thousands of years about this land and what we have left to protect.
Nathaniel Goldberg
Hair by Tomo Jidai for Oribe; makeup by Francelle Daly for Love*Craft*Beauty; manicure by Megumi Yamamoto for Chanel Le Vernis; model: Quannah Chasinghorse at IMG; produced by Jessica Hafford at Random Productions
This article appears on the December/January 2021 issue.
Source: elle