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Avis Charley (Spirit Lake Dakota/ Diné) is a visual artist born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She earned her BFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico (2018). She is a ledger artist and painter who creates figurative drawings and paintings exploring the evolving Native American identity from pre-reservation period to the present day, from ancestral homelands to city life.
Ledger art was Charley’s first art form; she learned and was encouraged by Terrence Guardipee (Blackfeet). Charley became a ledger artist to bring a woman’s perspective into a male-dominated art form; she shares stories of parenting, family, and community. Through portrait oil painting, Charley started portraying Indigenous women in modern settings celebrating resistance to assimilation and colonization with vibrant hues and details not possible in her ledger pieces. She creates work for future generations as she documents contemporary stories and experiences.
