Art for Action with Necessity
Featured Artist Asa Wright
The Necessity documentaries weave Indigenous art and motion graphic maps into the films, as well as regional photography and historical archives that provide a richly layered ethnographic texture to the stories of climate resistance. Native artist Asa Wright created an animated sequence of paintings for the second film, set in the Columbia River Gorge. The art sequence accompanies "The Monster Who Came Up the River,”a fable written by Umatilla storyteller Esther Motanic and narrated in the film by Walla Walla Chief Don Sampson. Be sure to check out Necessity: Climate Justice & the Thin Green Line to see Asa’s work come to life.
AsaWright
Klamath/Modoc/Yahooskin
Visual Artist | Designer | Activist
Asa is an enrolled member of the Klamath Tribes from Chiloquin, Oregon though he has called Portland home for the last 20 years. He is an artist of many mediums including painting, screen printing, graphic design and cultural arts. Asa has a Bachelor’s degree in Public Health from Portland State University and a Masters degree in Collaborative Design from Pacific NW College of Art. He blends his backgrounds in public health and art/design to work on cultural revitalization, decolonization and positive social change.
Asa also trains communities in and creates art for action, which is art that brings about awareness of social justice issues that motivates communities, people and organizations to mobilize for direct change.
“Art is like air for me: I need it to live. It feeds me, it’s an outlet, it’s healing.”