Yá’át’ééh. Hello.
Nááts’íílid atʼééd yinishyé, Kiyaa'áanii nishłį́, Bilagáana bashishchiin, do Tsinajinii dashicheii, do Bilagáana dashinalí. Ákót’éego diné asdzáán nishłį́.
My name is Nicole Roessel Neidhardt. I am a queer Diné woman mixed with european settler ancestries that weave together the story of who I am.
I am Kiyaa'áanii - Towering House Clan – a clan made by Changing Woman in Dinétah.
I am Kiyaa'áanii through my mom, Mary Roessel, and my grandmother, Ruth Roessel, and her mother Hasbah.
I am a daughter of Asdzą́ą́ Anilí, who survived the Long Walk, the forced removal of my ancestors from our homelands in Dinétah. I am the daughter of apocalypse.
Through my father, Joe Neidhardt, I am a descendant of Scottish, German, Polish, and French families who sit alongside Diné ancestors in my blood memory.
I grew up around tables of plum dumplings, fudge, perogies, mutton stew, fry bread, and blue corn meal. Food passed down by the loving hands of my nana, Cece and my misán, Ruth.
I come from educators, dreamers, and weavers, and growing up on Tewa territory in Santa Fe, NM gave me the heart of an artist at a young age. Encouraged by my cheii and misan, I learned to hold culture and family close in my work.
I am also a body who has travelled far from her home in Santa Fe and her homelands in Round Rock, AZ. I have lived north of the medicine line for art school, first on Lekwungen Territory for my BFA from UVic, and then on the lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Haudenosaunee, the Anishinaabeg and the Huron-Wendat in Tkaronto for my MFA from OCAD University.
Many relations hold me, care for me, and shape me into the Diné Aszáán I am today. I am descendant from troublemakers, world changers, apocalypse survivors, and creators dreaming seven generations into the future. My work dreams for Indigenous futures alongside my ancestors, my homelands, and my many relations.
My artistic practice has been varied and diverse throughout my career - muraling, hand-poke tattooing, painting, installation, community based arts, arts administration and now children’s book illustration. I am currently based on Lekwungen territory in Southern Vancouver Island.
For all book or illustration inquiries, I am repped by Jacqui Lipton at The Tobias Literary Agency.
Instagram: @navabear12