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Portrait of Sasha LaPointe

This portrait of Sasha LaPointe, poet, author, and great-granddaughter of Vi “taqʷšəblu” Hilbert, is a reflection of language, lineage, and place. Vi Hilbert, an Upper Skagit elder, storyteller, and Lushootseed speaker, devoted her life to preserving and sharing the language and cultural knowledge of the Puget Sound’s Indigenous peoples. For me, Sasha and Vi are intrinsically connected, both shaping my own journey of cultural reconnection through language and story.

In this painting, Sasha brings her fierce, punk rock spirit while wearing the coat passed down from her maternal great-grandmother, a coat worn by Vi on the cover of Where the Language Lives by Janet Yoder. This was Sasha’s first time wearing it, and through this moment, history and presence intertwine. The portrait becomes a weaving of water and land, memory and identity, and my deep gratitude for this family’s gifts of words, words that continue to shape the Indigenous experience in the modern Puget Sound region.