Biography
Tashina Azure (Turtle Mountain Anishinaabe/Meskwaki, Mexican & French-American) is an integrated visual artist based near the Meskwaki Nation, in present-day Tama County, Iowa, where she currently resides. Azure is an MFA Candidate from Iowa State University of Ames, Iowa, graduating Spring 2027. She has a broad educational background, including community health, science, Indigenous history, and Tribal law. She also has a diverse professional background, including her retirement from the United States Navy and her recent roles as court administrator and youth development director for the Meskwaki Nation. She has been a photographer for over 20 years and a Cultural Indigenous beadwork artist for over 30 years. She uses Meskwaki(Indigenous) symbolism in her art as a powerful educational tool for discussing the issues that Western colonial practices have perpetuated on North American Indigenous Nations, such as psychological issues (genocide, identity, blood quantum, enrollment, and trauma) and communal tribal issues (legal, constitutional, and sovereignty).