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Indigenous Lenses

Interpreting history, culture, identity and society from an indigenous perspective

Art, Art, Architecture, Body Adornment, Music and Food, Artists, Body Adornment, Contemporary Guam Era, Creative Expressions, Historic Eras of Guam, Indigenous Lenses, People, People and Places, Traditional Craft

Julie “Jill” Quichocho Benavente

 

Julie “Jill” Quichocho Benavente (1958 – ) is a traditional and contemporary Chamorro body ornamentation artist. Benavente carves fine jewelry from local materials such as hima (Tridacna or giant clam), Spondylus (thorny oysters), stone, cow bone, wild boar tusks, and more. Benavente has been creating and carving since the 1990s.

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Art, Art, Architecture, Body Adornment, Music and Food, Artists, Contemporary Guam Era, Historic Eras of Guam, Indigenous Lenses, People, People and Places, Performance Arts

Vince Reyes

 

Vincent J.C. Reyes, a Master of CHamoru dance, serves as Director of the Inetnon Gefpå’go Cultural Arts Program. Reyes, the son of Vicente (Ben) T. Reyes and Frances C. Sablan, was born and raised in the village of Malesso in southern Guam. He describes himself as growing up in a very CHamoru-Americanized family of the 1970s and 1980s.

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Art, Art, Architecture, Body Adornment, Music and Food, Artists, Civic Society, Contemporary Guam Era, Creative Expressions, Education, Guamanian Era, Guamanian Era: Education, Historic Eras of Guam, Indigenous Lenses, Modern Guam Rises, Music, People, People and Places, Performance Arts, Traditional Music, Women in Guam History

Clotilde “Ding” Castro Gould

 

Clotilde “Ding” Castro Gould (1930-2002) was a beloved storyteller, educator and advocate for Chamorro language and culture.  Through her sense of humor and gift for weaving stories and songs together about Chamorros and life on Guam, Gould helped create and shape Chamorro language resources and programs on Guam, as well as advanced cultural awareness of the Marianas in the larger Pacific region.

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Art, Art, Architecture, Body Adornment, Music and Food, Artists, Contemporary Guam Era, Creative Expressions, Historic Eras of Guam, Indigenous Lenses, People, People and Places, Traditional Craft

Robert Taitano

 

Robert Phillip Taitano (1938 – 2022) was an established woodcarver who specializes in crafting art works, furniture and other decorative pieces from local hardwood.  A recognized Master Carver by the Guam Council on the Arts and Humanities Agency (CAHA), Taitano produced pieces for numerous dignitaries, including Guam governors, senators of the Guam Legislature, United States Congressional delegates, island judges, and even the former US President William “Bill” Clinton.

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Chamorro Culture, Indigenous Lenses, Matrilineal Systems, Our Heritage, Roles of Family Members

CHamoru/Chamorro Women’s Legacy of Leadership

 

CHamoru women have a legacy of leadership that helped keep the culture and history of their people alive. The earliest accounts of ancient CHamoru society state that women maintained their family’s wealth, had final say in the governance of both their home and village and were the primary caretakers of their children and land.

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