Marlena Myles
Founder at Wiyounkihipi Productions, Current 2022 artist-in-residence at Gustavus Adolphus College
St Paul, Minnesota, USA / American Indian- Mohegan, Muscogee Creek
👩 she/her/hers
🎓 Self-taught digital artist
😁 Marlena is an avid fan of tennis, NBA, and wrestling!
Marlena creates augmented reality and public art to tell stories about the land, language, history, and culture of the Dakota people.
ABOUT HER WORK
Marlena is a self-taught multimedia artist who identified the lack of public art and education showcasing the Indigenous history of the Twin Cities. She wanted to create art that would be in classrooms around the world, so she created various augmented reality public art installations that allowed her to tell stories about the history, land, language, and culture of the Dakota people. Marlena uses technology and augmented reality to make connections to Native American communities by sharing their stories of sacred places using the land as a teacher.
WATCH & DISCUSS
Watch: Dakota Artist Marlena Myles - Native American Heritage Month
Discuss:
Why is Marlena a self-taught artist?
What is Marlena’s inspiration for creating art?
Marlena uses augmented reality to tell stories about her culture and family. What is a family story that you have heard that has been told from generation to generation?
OTHER RESOURCES
ARTICLES
EXTENSION ACTIVITIES
Marlena shares resources about her native Dakota’s culture, language, and history
ADVICE TO YOUNGER SELF
Marlena first learned computer science in elementary school.
“Cherish the ability to be self-educated because technology will always be innovating and one must be willing to learn new coding languages or programs to be efficient and relevant. Be willing to think of new opportunities for technology to be used to make a task more accessible or useful, create what's needed in the world and pursue that curiosity!”
