Collection Spotlight with Neebinnaukzhik Southall

Neebinnaukzhik (Neebin) Southall (Chippewas of Rama First Nation) is a graphic designer, artist, photographer, and writer located in Santa Fe, NM. Neebinnaukzhik means “Summer Evening” in the Ojibwe language. Southall is two-spirit and their preferred pronouns are they/them. They are a member of the Chippewas of Rama First Nation. They were born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and grew up in Miami, Florida, and Corvallis, Oregon. Since 2013 they have lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where they run their small creative business Neebin Studios. They are a graphic designer, illustrator, artist, photographer, writer, editor, and speaker who works with museums, arts and cultural organizations, magazines, and Indigenous clients.

In my writing, they typically cover Native art, and design, and fashion. They have written for First American Art Magazine, Hyperallergic, Letterform Archive, the Santa Fean’s Native Arts magazine, the Santa Fe New Mexican’s Indian Market and Legacy magazines, the Peabody Essex Museum’s Connections, and AIGA, among others. They also run the Native Graphic Design Project, which features a growing list of Indigenous designers.

Southhall explains that the materials used in the piece include birchbark, sweetgrass, and porcupine quillwork. The imagery draws from the Agawa pictographs, featuring a canoe in the upper left and an Underwater Panther on the right. The Underwater Panther is a significant spirit in Anishinaabe culture, known to inhabit lakes and waterways. Often regarded as dangerous, it is traditionally offered tobacco to ensure safe passage and is associated with powerful medicine people.

This imagery also appears on a knife shown later in the video (NA1087 a,b). Southhall suggests that its inclusion on a commercial object—intended for sale or trade—may have served a protective function. She observes that the use of such culturally significant imagery on a trade item may reflect a shift in its visual application.

The quillwork was created by soaking porcupine quills and threading them through the birchbark surface. The quills could be dyed, as seen in the decorative band around the rim of the box. Southhall notes the early date of the piece, indicated by the dark brown birchbark background, likely achieved through walnut dye, a technique commonly used in earlier examples.

Southall explained that this is a twined bag created from wool and that bags of this type would have originally been made with basswood and fibers. Southall notes the Ottertail patterns on this bag, which have thick black lines.

Southall notes the moccasin’s use of the hide, velveteen, beads, and ribbon within the piece. The central motif on the moccasin is elaborate, and she does not know the specific meaning but thinks that it is possibly a floral decoration or cosmological design. The design can be commonly associated with women and the four directions and is called the “celestial eye”.

Southall observes that the piece likely dates to an early period, indicated by the dark brown background; early examples were often dyed with walnut. She highlights the elaborate design, including red and white checkered patterns, and notes that this stylistic approach is common among many tribes in the Great Lakes region. Southall also suggests that natural dyes were likely used and points out that the hourglass-shaped motif on the knife handle may represent a Thunderbird symbol.

The imagery on the knife references the Underwater Panther from the Agawa pictographs, a symbol Southall discusses earlier in the video in relation to the birchbark box (NA0221). She notes that the blade is likely a later replacement. Beneath the flap, a running hourglass motif appears, which Southall suggests may represent a Thunderbird. Together, the figures of the Underwater Panther and Thunderbird reflect a balance of powerful forces.