Portraits in RED: A Painting Project Honoring Missing and Murdered Indigenous People
By Artist Nayana LaFond
About the Crisis
- Indigenous women are 10 times more likely to be murdered than any other racial group
- 84% of Indigenous women have experienced violence
- 56% of Indigenous women have experienced sexual assault
- 55% of Indigenous women have been physically abused by their partner
- 49% of Indigenous women have been stalked
While these rates are staggering, research data indicates that rates of violence on tribal lands can be up to 10 times higher than national averages. There is no reliable count of how many Native women go missing each year. Researchers have found that Native women are often misclassified as Hispanic or Asian, and astonishingly, reporting methodologies in some areas do not have a racial classification for Indigenous people. There are poor tracking methods and jurisdictional conflicts between tribal, local and state police.
Investigations often remain unsolved due to a lack of resources. There are sometimes racially motivated reasons why information is not shared or pursued. Prosecution rates are extremely low. There is also an extreme lack of media coverage, especially when compared to the disappearance or murder of similar aged white women.
This crisis is a result of many complicated issues, starting with colonization and ongoing historical trauma related to the systemic dehumanization of Indigenous people. Some cases involve non-Indigenous perpetrators committing crimes on tribal lands, often in remote areas. One example involves male-dominated extraction industries. According to one report, after worker camps were set up in the Bakken oil region, sexual assaults on women on the nearby Fort Berthold reservation increased by 75%. Human trafficking is related to the crisis, due in part to a cycle of sexual objectification of Indigenous women and girls who often work in tribal casinos. The Indian Relocation Act and other federal policies have impacted where Native Americans live – 78% do not live on reservations, with 60% of those living in urban areas where there are little ties to Native communities and tribal law enforcement. Victim blaming ignores generational traumas of poverty, addiction and domestic violence.
A movement to bring awareness to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) has finally become more mainstream, in part through art. One of the first attempts to raise awareness in this way was by Jaime Black (Métis, Anishinaabe and Finnish), a multidisciplinary artist in Winnipeg, Canada. Black’s ongoing art installation, titled The REDress Project, consists of hanging red dresses, meant to represent Indigenous women who have gone missing or been murdered. Beginning in 2010, the project has helped to associate the color red with the movement. Since then many other artists and activists have joined the movement to raise awareness through art and other compelling ways.
The MMIW movement is sometimes referred to as MMIWG (which adds “and Girls”) or MMIWG2 (which adds “Two-Spirits”, a term in the Indigenous community to represent varying sexual and gender identities).
In 2021 Deb Haaland (Pueblo of Laguna) became the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary, as the U.S. Secretary of the Interior. On April 4, 2021 Haaland announced the formation of a new Missing & Murdered Unit (MMU) within the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services.
“Violence against Indigenous peoples is a crisis that has been underfunded for decades. Far too often, murders and missing persons cases in Indian country go unsolved and unaddressed, leaving families and communities devastated. The new MMU unit will provide the resources and leadership to prioritize these cases and coordinate resources to hold people accountable, keep our communities safe, and provide closure for families.”
U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland
About the Exhibit
“I began this painting journey without the intention of it becoming an ongoing project.”- Nayana LaFond.
On May 5, 2020 while in quarantine, Nayana was looking for something to occupy her time, intending to paint as a cathartic outlet. With permission, she painted a portrait of a photograph of woman named Lauraina Bear from Saskatchewan. Lauraina was seen wearing red makeup to honor missing and murdered Indigenous women. After a posted image of the portrait online received more than 3,000 likes, Nayana decided to do another. It had an even larger reaction. 
She decided to her open her email to those who would like a portrait made of themselves or a loved one. On the first day, she received more than 25 emails and direct messages on social media with compelling stories and photographs. Nayana knew that she could not pick and choose who to paint, and thus decided to paint them all, for free.
“I could not say yes to some and say no to others. The messages kept coming and quickly I decided to paint all which I received.”
Nayana has now completed more than 90 portraits of various sizes and continues to receive emails and messages with more requests. She usually has a queue of at least two dozen more.
Nayana provides an unlimited number of free prints for the individual or family (one family received 65 prints). She has not sold any originals and instead exhibits them to raise awareness of the MMIWG movement. Portraits are only exhibited with permission, with as little or as much information about the person as the individual or family feels comfortable with. If she should sell the originals in the future, Nayana plans on donating to several MMIWG charities.
Families are also asked permission for prints of the portrait are available for sale, which help raise funds for Nayana’s painting and exhibit supplies as well as free prints for families. An Amazon wish list has also been set up for supplies to be purchased and sent to Nayana via a PO Box.
Over time the project has evolved to include MMIWG activists, women touched by loss and even and men.
For more information, visit nayanaarts.com.
Artist Statement
This project is different than any other project I have done before. It is a labor of love. It has found me and inspired a mission of raising awareness and honoring the memory of those lost. I seek to elevate their voices, promote healing and spark discussion and contribute toward change. It is immeasurably important to me to honor the trust these people give me when entrusting me to paint them or their loved one.
Each portrait is painted in black and white with red being the only visible color because spirits can only see the color red.
I am often asked what I get out of doing this work since I don’t financially profit from this. Every painting I do helps me heal some from my own experiences. It helps my family heal as well. Perhaps it will help someone still suffering gain the courage to get help. You are not alone, you are not without hope, we are your sisters and we are here beside you.
I don’t know when I will be done with this project, possibly never.
Miigwetch!
About the Artist 
Nayana LaFond is a full-time multidisciplinary artist and “artivist” who resides with her daughter in western Massachusetts. She attended Greenfield Community College and Massachusetts College of Art for Photography but dropped out to become a full-time painter. Her work can be found in collections in galleries and museums around the world.
Nayana has also worked as a curator and community arts organizer for more than 20 years, including as Chief Curator for The Whitney Center for the Arts. She also sits on several arts organization boards, including Artist Organized Art, and is an advisor for Be The Change and The Native Youth Empowerment Foundation. In addition to painting and photography, Nayana is also a sculptor and currently has a large metal, plexiglass and concrete sculpture currently on display on Fenway in Boston to raise awareness about domestic violence. It will be installed temporarily inside Nowashe Village this fall.
Nayana’s work often deals with issues related to trauma and violence, often related to her own experiences. In 2014, Nayana was diagnosed with Leukemia and underwent a bone marrow stem cell transplant. Her diagnosis changed her outlook on life and she then decided to focus more completely on her art and activism. She is also a survivor of domestic violence.
Nayana is of mixed descent including Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) & Mi’kmaq.
How You Can Help
While Nayana does not accept monetary donations, but does always need supplies.
- Liquitex or Golden (Golden preferred) brand heavy body acrylic paint in Mars Black, Titanium White and/or Cadmium red medium
- Canvases in ANY size or shape, and/or stretcher bars and raw canvas
- Higher quality brushes, especially detail brushes
Mail to:
NayanaArts
PO Box 573
Athol, MA 01331