Photo: Brandon Vosika
Photo: Fernando Decillis
Sáandlaanaay hin uu Xaad kíl dii kya’áang. My name in the Haida language is Sáandlaanaay. In English (and Spanish), I’m Kimberly Fulton Orozco. Here is an (auto)bio in the third person.
Kimberly Fulton Orozco is an artist and storyteller whose work explores the intergenerational impacts of assimilation and the complex forces that shape identity. Her practice reflects on themes such as the fragmentation of memory, the power of felt knowledge, loss of language, reclamation of belonging, and the transformative nature of love and kinship.
A Kaigani Haida Raven from the Yaahkw’ Jaanaas clan of Craig, Alaska, Kimberly was given the name Sáandlaanaay, meaning “first light,” which comes from a Haida origin story and belongs to Ravens. She is a citizen of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.
Born in Ridgecrest, California, Kimberly was raised between two cultural worlds, situated halfway between her maternal homeland of Jalisco, Mexico, and her paternal homeland of Craig, Alaska. Her art reflects this blend of cultural inheritances, often incorporating traditional Haida forms while reinterpreting them through abstraction. Through her work, Kimberly engages with the tension of being a multicultural Indigenous and settler person in a rapidly changing world, exploring how identity shifts and evolves across time and space.
Kimberly received her BFA in Drawing, Painting, and Printmaking from Georgia State University in 2022, and she is currently pursuing an MFA in Studio Arts at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Her work has been exhibited at institutions such as the Anchorage Museum and the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, and her writing has been featured in Smithsonian Magazine. In 2023, she was honored to be selected as one of the first Indigenous artists for the U.S. Mint’s Artistic Infusion Program.
Kimberly’s work is rooted in a deep sense of gratitude and connection to her ancestors, and she is committed to continuing the practice of cultural exploration and renewal through art.
Links
https://www.usmint.gov/learn/artists/aip-kimberly-fulton
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/author/kimberly-r-fulton-orozco/