Maya Tihtiyas Attean

Happy Indigenous peoples’ day! I implore you to learn whose land you live on, engage with the Indigenous people of your area, educate yourself on issues, and support land back campaigns that respect our sovereignty and right to care for the land.

Today, I celebrate the land, my people, and our everlasting persistence of spirit with the announcement that my book: Does the Land Remember? Published by Wych Elm, is finally done.

This book means so much to me. Living away from my reservation for most of my adult life as a white passing Wabanaki person in a mostly white state, I often felt like I was invisible and chronically misunderstood. I oscillated in between two worlds: one where Indigenous knowledge and decolonization is centered, and another where we are completely forgotten. Photography has given me a voice to put these feelings into a tangible creation.

This book of photographs taken over four years across Wabanakik contemplates if we can feel the energetic shifts across the land. Do we feel our ancestors spirit persisting along with us, our animal relatives present, a lineage of connection to a place? I photographed at significant sites across Wabanaki history, places that held great trauma or joy, or felt significant to me, and used my body as a conduit for the energy I felt while being present there. Using place name maps, historical documents, and drawing on Wabanaki legends, I honor my people and the land. Through this exploration I have gained immense gratitude for those who came before me & hope for our future ancestors.

Pre-orders will be shipping soon, and regular orders shortly after that. Woliwon to my collaborators & to the @kindlingfund for supporting the production of this book!!

wychelm.press/does-the-land-remember

♥️🪶✨