Embracing traditional healing and the Warrior’s Paradox: Insights from a Native veteran filmmaker

Rocky Mountain PBS interviewed Biss-Grayson to learn how his personal journey has shaped him as an artist and storyteller. The conversation was edited for length and clarity.

Dante Biss-Grayson: I'm a veteran of the US Air Force. So I was downrange in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait for a long time. And when I came back. I had — still do have — a strong case of PTSD. Instead of just medicating with all the medications, I decided to open up my art studio. I started painting and that's when I started doing fashion design with a Sky-Eagle collection. And I had some ideas about film because I've been writing. I do short stories. I write poems.

 

So I started first with Bawaadan Collective and they're a Native-owned production team in Canada. I did a small documentary with them, a group of artists. It was very abstract. And then they asked me, “hey, what kind of ideas do you have?” I got this idea of bringing up the topic of warrior’s paradox, but also, bringing up the topic of PTSD and traditional healing. 

DB: There's the idea in Native American culture of a warrior and me being a first son is important in my tribe. In my mind, the concept of a warrior protects the tribe, the people, and provides. As you know, the colonizers came over and started the genocide against my people. And yet many Native cultures really support the veterans and the US military. And it raises that question of, “how do you support this?” This community is fighting for a culture that basically tried to kill you. 

DB: Well, for me being multifaceted–I'm a fashion designer, I'm an artist–And writing for me is a way to simply state it because my poems are like Zen poems, haiku poems, and they're very simple. So it takes away all the confusion and you just simplify it, say what you mean and put it on paper.

I have hundreds and hundreds of poems and this was one of them that came from my own experience as a veteran, who's been in the combat zones, who has PTSD and then reflecting on that. Like being Native as well.

Bringing in the voice of the code talkers is also talking about that paradox, because they literally won World War II. I always reflected on that, how is it that, even during World War II, we weren't even citizens. We weren't even allowed to vote yet, but we're over there fighting for this country. 

And either you sit back and say, ‘You know, I have this generational trauma. It's the end of the world; I'm going to keep on fighting; I'm going to be rebellious until we die.’ 

Or we can educate ourselves, build community capabilities, and still have our cultural heritage maintained. There's a choice.

DB: Well, I've been through the VA (Veterans Affairs) system and one of their main solutions is medication, right? I tried it out, and it kind of turns you into like a soulless kind of zombie, and I'm just like, there's got to be a better way to maintain [that] I'm a human being. 

For Native people, there's different regions, different ceremonies, different tribes, so I can only speak on my own, but the creativity of art, you know, from cave paintings to buffalo hide paintings to like ledger art. That was a way for us to express and other tribes have different ceremonies. So all these things help you process things. Helps you externalize that terror and that pain that's inside.

In my mind, that's a lot healthier than becoming a zombie, and being medicated and going through the system. So I can see how traditional Native medicine and our cultural ways are a support network that should be embraced and supported.

DB: Some of the highest rates of alcoholism are on reservations. So does a kid have a chance growing up in a reservation to be a success? It's a very big challenge for them to get through the system to get where they're at. And the military is like, okay, you're going to pay me to go to school and to get me out of here, you know? 

And maybe that's one reason that just pushes them to do it. And it kind of fits with their ethos of a warrior. I’m sure there’s a high rate of people wanting to serve their country. But in my mind, it's an escape and it's one way to succeed in life.

DB: I mean, the philosophy of serving as a citizen is one, but I was also a poor artist, starving artist. At the time I couldn't feed myself on paintings. So I was like, that's a solution. My grandpa was in the military so that was part of my culture and everything just added up. At first I was like, “surely nothing will happen.” But then 9/11 happened, and I was like, “oh, great! We're going to be here [the Middle East] forever.” 

DB: Raising awareness and action. That's part of my brand ethos with fashion as well. It's like bringing an issue to the forefront, starting that discussion, and hopefully that inspires action down the road.

I know, even though it's like a 10 minute piece, it's a little itty bitty thing, but maybe it grows into something, maybe that message goes out into the universe and somebody says: let's do something about it.