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DeLesslin George-Warren is a queer artist, researcher, and organizer from Catawba Indian Nation. His wide ranging work encompasses performance art, installation art, community education as well as food sovereignty and language revitalization. From 2017 to 2019, he was the Special Projects Coordinator for the Catawba Cultural Preservation Project where he facilitated the Catawba Language Project, which involved developing and programming online digital assets such as the Catawba Language App; several food sovereignty initiatives; and other community education projects. Since 2019, DeLesslin has continued to work for his tribe as a consultant on many projects. He has performed, lectured, and exhibited throughout the United States including at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, the College of Charleston, Vanderbilt University, Ithaca College. In 2018, DeLesslin was recognized as a “40 Under 40” by the National Council on American Indian Enterprise Development. In 2017, he was selected as a Dreamstarter by Running Strong for American Indian Youth and in 2016 he was recognized as a “25 Under 25” by United National Inter Tribal Youth Inc. He is an alumnus of Vanderbilt University, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Music, a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow as a 2014 Copenhagen Fellow, and a participant in Columbia University’s Indigenous Studies Summer Program. Some of his work can be seen at delesslin.com.
“I want to support the visionary brilliance of Indigenous designers, developers, artists, and technologists in creating open source solutions to the needs of our communities.”
Learn more about DeLesslin’s Landecker Democracy Fellowship project here.
Updated June 2021
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