Quannah Chasinghorse, Han Gwich'in and Sicangu Oglala Lakota, on the cover of ELLE
By: Pauly Denetclaw (Native News Online)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Details By Pauly Denetclaw December 16, 2021
Quannah Chasinghorse, who is Han Gwich'in and Sicangu Oglala Lakota, looks regal on the recent cover of ELLE magazine. She is iced out in Dolce & Gabbana Alta Gioielleria earrings, necklace and tiara, wearing a black Dolce & Gabbana blazer with a white bustier underneath. Her hand-poked Yidtoo on her chin and around her eyes looks stunning.
This cover comes just seven months after being featured on the cover of Vogue Mexico's May issue. Over the past year, Chasinghorse has made huge strides in the fashion industry becoming the first Indigneous woman to walk for Chanel. She also attended the 2021 Met Gala and has walked the runway for Chloe, Savage x Fenty, Gabriela Hearst, and Prabal Gurung. So much has happened in just one year.
The 19-year-old model was signed to IMG, a renowned modeling agency, in December of 2020. (IMG has also signed models like Tyra Banks, Kate Moss, and Gisele Bundchen.) This after amassing a large social media following through her activism work, which she is most known for.
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As she talks about in both Vogue Mexico and ELLE, being a land protector is one of, if not the, most important part of her life. Coming from a long line of fierce and powerful matriarchs, she is a fourth-generation land protector of her Han Gwich'in homelands located in what is now called Alaska.
Chasinghorse, and her mother Jody Potts-Joseph have been strong advocates for protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge home to 200,000 porcupine caribou that could be threatened by the ongoing oil and gas development.
In her ELLE interview with Indigenous author Terese Marie Mailhot, Chasinghorse describes a tear-jerking moment where a herd of caribou surrounded the truck her family was using to transport her late uncle to his final resting place in their home village. That night her family got three caribou and it was Chasinghorse's first one, a rite of passage for a Han Gwich'in woman and practice she is reclaiming. She was honored to be able to feed her village.
During the 45th presidential administration, the 1.57 million acres of refuge were opened up to allow oil and gas companies to begin drilling — this in an area that has become known as ground-zero for climate change, where temperatures are rising at double the rate as anywhere else in the country. The melting ice caps are pushing Indigenous communities in Alaska further inland. Bringing awareness to climate change and ushering in change to help save her homelands is the focus of her work.
But it doesn't stop there. She is also reclaiming parts of her culture that were demonized and banned by Christian missionaries. At 14, she received her first Yidtoo. It was three hand-poked vertical lines that went down her chin and was done by her mother Jody to mark her passage in womanhood. The Yidtoo is usually done between the ages of 12 and 14.
In a personal poem she shared with Teen Vogue in September 2020, Chasinghorse read, "I'm from the beaded moose hide in modern clothes, from the smell of sage and taste of fry bread. I am from the fireweed trails. From the birch trees, I used to climb, whose limbs I remember as though they were my own. I'm from the mushing, hunting, fishing, and berry picking trips, from the family of traditions. I'm from the potlatches and the legends our elders tell."
This is why she has become so embraced and celebrated by Indigenous people from across the US. She is proudly Indigenous in every space she occupies, whether it's wearing turquoise to the Met Gala or sharing the rich history of Yidtoo, or speaking on climate change that so deeply impacts her community. Chasinghorse brings her whole being, history, and people wherever she goes.
Read her full ELLE interview by Terese Marie Mailhot here.
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DonateFree Newsletter About The Author Author:Pauly DenetclawEmail:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Pauly Denetclaw is a citizen of the Navajo Nation and from Manuelito, N.M. She is Haltsooi (Meadow People) born for Kinyaa'aanii (Towering House People). Denetclaw is an award-winning reporter who has worked for the Navajo Times and Texas Observer covering Indigenous communities. She is a board member for the Native American Journalist Association. Her radio pieces have aired on National Native News, NPR's Latino USA and Texas Public Radio. She has been published in Conde Nast Traveler, Indian Country Today and The Nation. She has been a consultant for the This Land and The Experiment podcasts. She loves trying new coffee blends, the color pink, bullet journaling and listening to Jack Harlow. Follow her on Twitter, @pdineclah.
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In addition to her modeling career, it is this part of her life that I am most impressed with.
I am very impressed by her activism. I am very impressed by her. Another exceptional present and future leader.
That part of her life really caught my eye.
Definitely. She is quite accomplished at a very young age.
... very inspirational.
Indeed she is, dev.
She has a look to her that says she's wise beyond her years.
Exactly.
I know! I was just thinking that exact thing.
She is also the real deal.
In a personal poem she shared with Teen Vogue in September 2020, Chasinghorse read:
"I'm from the beaded moose hide in modern clothes, from the smell of sage and taste of fry bread. I am from the fireweed trails. From the birch trees, I used to climb, whose limbs I remember as though they were my own. I'm from the mushing, hunting, fishing, and berry picking trips, from the family of traditions. I'm from the potlatches and the legends our elders tell."
I think it would be impossible to read that poem and not feel her words in your heart.
Can't say it any better than that.
She looks beautiful and proud. A great cover and a major first!
This has been an amazing year for native people. So many advancements and in very public ways.
It has been a good year and hopefully, it will continue for generations more.
The Gods sport such tattoos.
Bingo
As she should, bravo.