Mahalia Hunt (they/she) is a Sugpiaq/Kass’aq (settler) beadworker, born on Dena’ina land (Anchorage, Alaska) & currently living on Cheyenne, Ute, & Arapaho land (Denver, Colorado). Mahalia made their first piece of beadwork at age five, a beaded wire sculpture, which she still has today, floating around her bead box. They were encouraged to pick up beads by their father, also a beadworker, but have honed & challenged their craft over the past two decades.
"To be Indigenous is to have been touched by the epidemic of missing & murdered Indigenous women & girls. The National Crime Information Center (NCIC) reported that in 2016 alone there were 5,712 reports of missing American Indian & Alaska Native women & girls. It is likely this number is low as many cases go unreported. These earrings are four feet long—each letter a foot of beaded steel—and weigh about 10 pounds each. Wearing the earrings would be painful & nearly impossible to bear, much like the weight of experiencing our sisters being stolen from our communities. These earrings were stolen from my studio in 2020. I mourn the loss of Indigenous objects, & grieve the lives of Indigenous women & girls stolen from their families. As I welded together the joints of each letter & meticulously beaded thousands of seed beads I prayed for our stolen sisters. Every bead a prayer."
