Trudell, most well known for his role as the national spokesman for the All Tribes Occupation of Alcatraz Island, a 19-month demonstration where 78 native individuals symbolically claimed the island for the Native people as a means to advocate for Native American self-determination. While there, Trudell broadcasted the radio station “Radio Free Alcatraz”. He played traditional Native American music, conducted interviews with occupiers and influential figures in the movement, and provided political commentary addressing the state of Native American affairs in the United States. Following his work at Alcatraz, Trudell became the National Chairman for the American Indian Movement. Whilst being the face of the movement, Trudell tragically lost his family to a suspicious house fire, writing that their deaths were “an act of war”... As a result of this tremendous loss, Trudell began to explore the art of poetry. He decided to combine his poetry with the "oldest musical form", this being drums and chants and continued his activism through this medium.

Tanaya Winder is an artist and educator. Winder is from the Southern Ute reservation in Ignacio, Colorado and a proud member of the Duckwater Shoshone Tribe. Winder's heritage encompasses Southern Ute, Pyramid Lake Paiute, Diné, and Black roots. Winder's creative focus revolves around the multifaceted concept of love, exploring various dimensions such as self-love, intimate love, social love, community love, and universal love. Her artist statement reads as follows "When envisioning an Indigenous future, I see us as happy, healthy, and thriving. We acknowledge our past soul wounds and continue to heal and grow from them. For this project, I took some of my more well-known poems that address the epidemic of murdered and missing Indigenous women. I did the erasure poem technique on these poems and blacked out all the parts that reference us being taken, murdered, or stolen. I then took the words that were left to create a new poem “To fill the silence, sing softly.” In the future, in the end – love wins. We are able to “sew new memories into old scars,” and our mouths hold all of our stories and songs, our fire. We carry our stories and we keep breathing."