Native American Girls Describe the REAL History Behind Thanksgiving. 6 Misconceptions About Native American People | Teen Vogue. Video : Lakota in America. Native American Girls Describe the REAL History Behind Thanksgiving. 6 Misconceptions About Native American People. Video Lakota in America with questions. Stereotypes in Disney. Building walls. First immigrants hatred. Native American cliches. Fort Apache film poster. Sacred land conflict. Pow wow stereotypes. First illegal immigrants. Nationalgeographic. When photographer Kiliii Yüyan first saw the sun setting over the red rock formations in Tse’Bii’Ndzisgaii, or Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, which straddles both Utah and Arizona, he knew it was the perfect backdrop for a powerful portrait of international model Quannah Rose Chasinghorse, featured on the cover of this month’s issue of National Geographic.
Yüyan is an award-winning photographer of Nanai/Hèzhé ancestry who specializes in exploring human relationships to nature, especially in Indigenous communities. For the July cover story, he was tasked with capturing the essence of a complex term: Native sovereignty. And Chasinghorse, an Indigenous model and activist known for using her platform to support sovereignty and sustainability, was an ideal subject. We spoke to Yüyan and Chasinghorse about how they captured the cover image—and what sovereignty means to them.
What’s the story behind the cover? “Sovereignty is the freedom to be yourself,” says Yüyan. What’s next?