Lofanitani Aisea

When I was young my grandmother told me that the stories we tell create the future. I am a Modoc–Klamath–Tahlequah–Tongan–Black multidisciplinary storyteller and performing artist born in Portland, OR and raised on my Klamath Reservation. My work spans film, spoken word, performance art, and digital media—grounded in radical self-love, language, and Indigenous visibility. With a foundation in storytelling and a background producing short films and community-based performances, I am committed to sustaining and transforming Indigenous cultural expression through both traditional and contemporary performance. This fellowship is not just for me—it is for the elders who shaped my voice, the youth who will inherit it, and the land that carries our stories. My work is not about performance for applause—it’s about performance as ceremony, as restoration, as re-membrance. That is what this fellowship would honor. I am here to tell stories that empower our people and remember us into the future.