Indigenous AF, a Native art nonprofit, has opened its doors to the Wai Gallery in the Las Vegas arts district. The organization's founders, Fawn Douglas and A.B. Wilkinson, welcomed everyone into a space that was once just a dream.
The Wai Gallery's grand opening began with a prayer to bless the art studio, followed by a ribbon-cutting.
“This is Southern Paiute land yesterday, today, tomorrow,” Douglas told the crowd before cutting the ribbon to the Wai Gallery.
Wai means two in Paiute.
The space's main goal is to highlight art from Indigenous artists as well as artists from around the Las Vegas Valley. It also includes one of the state's few stores that offers Indigenous-made art and products year-round. It’s something that Douglas, a citizen of the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe, has dreamt of for years.
“It feels like I've been working for this, I want to say all my life, but for a very long time,” she said.
The space also has deeper meaning for the property owners. Outside, in front of the Wai Gallery, Douglas holds up a flag that reads “landback.” They see it as restoring a small piece of the ancestral Nuwuvi homelands.
