Gidinatiy is Deg Xit’an Athabascan and white. They are Deg Xit’an on their mother’s side. They grew up in Wasilla, Alaska. Gidinatiy has a Bachelors of Fine Arts in printmaking from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Their BFA thesis was Dinayetr “Our Breath”: Deg Xinag Language Revitalization. Their artwork is about creating visual representations of the Deg Xinag and other Native languages. They have been hired to illustrate coloring pages, logos, a card game, and a children’s book for various Native people and organizations to help promote Native life and language revitalization. They are currently a Jerome fellow at Highpoint Center for Printmaking in Minneapolis.
Artist statement:
My artwork is about creating visual representations of the Deg Xinag, my Native language. My art is centered around a desire to reclaim my family’s Athabascan language, which was taken from us due to boarding schools and colonization. I create art based on words and phrases I have learned in Deg Xinag. The majority of my artwork is united by a sense of whimsy and wordplay. My overall goal for my art is to make it easier for people to learn Deg Xinag. Having multiple modes of representation, including visual art, makes language revitalization more accessible to other people.