I am Jalen DeCoteau and I am an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and have a BFA in Visual Arts from the University of North Dakota. I am currently attending the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for my MFA in Visual Arts with an emphasis on drawing.

My work uses sequential art and illustration to explore American Indian culture through themes of contemporary life, history, folklore, and tradition. I aim to represent Indigenous people as resilient and adaptable, to counter the harmful legacy of depictions of Natives as “Merciless Indian Savages” that have perpetuated negative stereotypes for centuries. I highlight the strength and resilience of American Indigenous culture with fictional narratives using real issues infused with supernatural elements to discuss life in Indian Country today and in the past. Ultimately, my work serves the purpose of honoring Indigenous culture while challenging audiences to rethink narratives they have been taught through comics and illustration.

            I tell these stories through ink illustration and sequential art. My stories are personal interpretations of Indigenous folklore told with the visual language of comic books, using bold linework, heavy shadows, and expressive compositions. I create narratives that address issues in Indian country both historical and contemporary. By combining real experiences with supernatural elements, I open a space for conversations of survival, identity, and adaptation. Through stories like Blue Eyed Swallow and Makwa, I explore how traditional beliefs and modern realities overlap, collide, and illuminate one another.

            My non sequential work contains ink illustrations thematically like my comics, but also contains depictions of the powwow, arguably the biggest and most important cultural event for Indigenous people today. My depictions of the powwow contain dancers in a variety of regalia, such as fancy shawl, grass, or jingle dresses. These illustrations show how history has led to current American Indian culture, and how it has developed in post Colombian America.