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Marlena, a Native American woman with brown skin, brown eyes, and shoulder-length brown hair, looks off to the right at a 3/4th profile view. Her shirt and the background share the same colorful pattern, a comic book-style print of her own design, featuring a Native American woman flexing her arm with the phrases "We can do it" and "Land back."
Artists

Marlena Myles

She // Her // Hers

Digital Media Artist

Saint Paul, Minnesota

“Using augmented reality to tell stories on the land has allowed me to hear the different relationships others have with the natural world while being able to share a Dakota perspective.”

Marlena Myles is a self-taught Native American artist and enrolled member of the Spirit Lake Dakota tribe living in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Myles's art brings modernity to Indigenous history, languages, and oral traditions while using the land as a teacher, helping the public to understand the significance of Native land, oral traditions, and history. Her professional work includes children’s books, augmented reality, murals, fabrics, and animations, and she has exhibited her work at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, The Museum of Russian Art, Red Cloud Heritage Center, and the Minnesota Museum of American Art. Her first permanent site-specific augmented reality public art installation, Dakota Spirit Walk, is available on the Revelo AR app. Her second augmented reality installation, the Dakota Sacred Hoop Walk, is opened in spring 2023 at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Myles operates her own Dakota publishing company called Wíyouŋkihipi (We Are Capable) Productions to create a platform that educates and honors the culture, language, and history of Dakota people.

Donor -The Knight Arts + Tech Fellowship is supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

This artist page was last updated on: 07.31.2024

Media
A digitally rendered landmap showcases the Dakhóta Thamákhočhe lands of Bde Óta Othúŋwe (Minneapolis) and Imnížaska Othúŋwe (St. Paul). Historic Dakota villages, sacred sites, bodies of water, and burial grounds are labeled.

Dakota Landmap of the Twin Cities by Marlena Myles, 2019. Vector illustration, 18 × 24 inches.

In a gallery with white walls and a wooden beamed ceiling, a virtual projection seems to hover in space amidst the other physical artworks. The Augmented Reality rendering depicts the Dakota moon spirit Hanwi in purple dress, in front of a large lunar calendar.

Under the Guidance of Hanwi by Marlena Myles, 2022. Augmented Reality, dimensions variable. Installation view of Creation.Story at the Aktá Lakota Museum in Chamberlain, South Dakota. Curated by Keith BraveHeart and David A. Meyer II.

A digital illustration of Wakinyan, the Dakota spirit of thunder, looking over the Mississippi River at Hemnican (Barn Bluff) in Red Wing, Minnesota. Wakinyan's patterned garments and long blue braids flow in the wind alongside stylized flowers, clouds, grasses, and water, rendered in cool blues, greens, purples, and pinks.

Return of Wakinyan by Marlena Myles, 2019. Vector illustration, 18 × 24 inches.