Help Grow Relative Arts NYC

Hello Relatives!

We are the founding members of Relative Arts NYC, located at 367 E 10th St. NY, NY 10009, in New York's historic East Village (Loisaida). Our mission is to provide a peer-run space in New York City to celebrate and foster the advancement of Indigenous futurism in art and fashion through representation and education.

New York’s latest one-of-a-kind store is ‘like an Indigenous-futurist version of Warhol’s Factory’

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/may/30/relative-arts-indigenous-boutique-liana-shewey-korina-emmerich

Indigenous-owned, founding members Korina Emmerich (Puyallup), and Liana Shewey (Mvskoke) opened a brick-and-mortar community space, open atelier, and shop displaying contemporary Indigenous fashion. As NY-based artists, we saw the need for a peer-run accessible space for our Indigenous relatives in the arts. We also host gallery events, poetry readings, intimate musical performances, and knowledge-sharing events, in a comfortable and safe environment.

Korina Emmerich (Puyallup) is the designer and founder of EMME Studio whose interdisciplinary artwork is centered on expression, art, and culture, with a focus on social and climate justice. Her work has been featured in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Moma PS1, The Denver Art Museum, Vogue, Elle, Instyle, New York Magazine, and more. Because of the accolades and celebration of Korina's work, she sees it necessary to foster and promote the work of other incredibly talented Indigenous designers and relatives. Korina works as the creative director of Relative Arts as well as the showroom manager and curator.

Liana Shewey (Mvskoke) is the programming and Operations manager at Relative Arts. Presently working as an outreach educator at the New-York Historical Society, Shewey uses inquiry-based and hands-on learning to teach NY history to K-12 students. Shewey is a committed community organizer and has led educational events, teach-ins, and speak-outs to create awareness around missing and murdered Indigenous relatives, the damaging effects of fossil fuels, and Indigenous liberation. She has also worked in music and event production for more than 15 years and will be bringing those skills and relationships to Relative Arts to host events featuring artists of all forms, and to develop progressive educational programming.

As we build out Relative Arts we are confident the online community will join us in supporting the celebration of Arts and Education in an intimate and safe space. With our hard work, we have been able to watch this seed grow. Will you help us continue to grow Relative Arts?

Sincerely,

Your Relatives in NYC

Korina and Liana

Relative Arts acknowledges the land designated as "New York City" to be the homeland of the Lenape (Lenapehoking) who were violently displaced as a result of European settler colonialism over the course of 400 years. The Lenape are a diasporic people that remain closely connected with this land and are its rightful stewards. We also recognize that New York City has one of the largest urban Native American / Indigenous populations in the United States.