No Rest: The Epidemic of Stolen Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2Spirits
No Rest: The Epidemic of Stolen Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirits
Extended through 2024
The exhibition features 35 original works from 12 collaborating Indigenous artists and will draw attention to the crimes perpetrated against Native women and two-spirit individuals in the United States. Rather than present the impacted individuals and communities as statistics, the Mitchell Museum will use an interdisciplinary approach through visual stories, interactive content, educational programming, community events, and an awareness campaign to humanize and honor the lives of Indigenous women and two-spirit individuals.
Artists include: Valeria Tatera, Dakota Mace, Dante Bliss- Grayson, Roberto Mata, Simone Senogles, Ne-Dah-Ness, Nayana Lafond, Graci Horne, and NSRGNTS.
The Epidemic of Violence Against Indigenous Women is a Human Rights Crisis
Urban, rural, and reservation-based Native communities throughout the United States continue to be plagued by the highest violent crime rates in the country. This public health crisis includes verbal, domestic, physical, and sexual violence and trafficking, adversely affecting generations of Native women and families.
The lasting impact of colonization, combined with a complicated jurisdictional framework that limits the authority to prosecute perpetrators, continues to undermine the safety of victims, resulting in intergenerational trauma and the vulnerability of Native women.
Our Role in Highlighting the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit (MMIWG2S) Movement
The MMIWG2S is a community-based grassroots movement raising awareness and addressing the lack of response when a Native woman, girl, or two-spirit individual goes missing or is murdered. Native children, women, and our LGBTQ2S relatives deserve to be protected and safe. Often seen as an issue impacting reservation-based communities and overlooked in urban areas, MMIWG2S awareness in the general public and Chicagoland region remains largely unknown and unaddressed.
The Mitchell Museum’s role is critical to raise the visibility of the MMIWG2S movement, strengthen voices, and amplify stories of Native women and LGBTQ2S relatives who have experienced violence at the state and national levels.
In doing so, we will develop a comprehensive awareness campaign that gives visitors and the public the tools to speak out against violence against MMIWG2S, learn about historical and present-day factors that contribute to the epidemic, access resources to become an ally and advocate decision- makers who can implement protections and policies that prevent and respond to violence.
- 85% of Native women will be victims of intimate partner violence, sexual violence, or stalking in their lifetimes.
- Of these women subject to violence, 96% were victimized by non-Native perpetrators.
- Native women also face murder rates more than 10x the national average.
- Homicide is the 3rd leading cause of death among Native girls & women aged 10 to 24.
- Of the 5,712 reports of missing Indigenous women, only 116 have been logged in the US Department of Justice’s missing person database.
- There are 506 cases of missing or murdered Indigenous women is 71 urban cities across the United States.
- More than 95% of cases missing or murdered Indigenous women in urban areas are NEVER covered by local or national media.
- Cases of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and two-spirit (LGBTQ2S+) have been undercounted.
- Gender based violence, including sexual assault and physical violence, is committed against 78% to 85% of Indigenous LGBTQ Two Spirit individuals
Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Crime Information Center, Urban Indian Health Institute, National Institute of Justice Report, University of Washington
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