Matika Wilbur, Project 562 Book Tour

The Office of University Diversity and Inclusion, NAICC & the San Luis Obispo Office of DEI are proud to be hosting an evening with acclaimed photographer and storyteller Matika Wilbur on May 5th at the Palm Theatre. This event will be focused on celebrating and examining contemporary native life and Wilbur's experience documenting tribes across North America for her book Project 562 Changing the Way We See Native America.

Matika Wilbur is a acclaimed social documentarian and photographer from the Swinomish and Tulalip peoples of coastal Washington. She is a National Geographic Explorer who has dedicated her professional career to documenting and elevating Native American culture and identity.

She will be visiting SLO as part of her Project 562 national book tour. Project 562 is a crowd-funded initiative to visit, engage, and photograph people from the over 562 sovereign Tribal Nations in North America. This work is a decade in the making and counters one-dimensional and archaic stereotypes of Native peoples in mainstream media. Project 562 is a peerless, sweeping, & moving collection of hundreds of portraits and compelling narratives of contemporary indigenous peoples- All photographed in clothing, poses, and locations of their choosing. Their narratives touch on personal and cultural identity as well as issues of media representation, sovereignty, faith, family, the protection of sacred sites, subsistence living, traditional knowledge-keeping, land stewardship, language preservation, advocacy, education, the arts, and more.

The Office of University Diversity and Inclusion is honored to be hosting a keynote address by Matika Wilbur, a moderated Q&A, and  book signing of Project 562. The event will take place at the Palm Theatre on May 5th from 4:30 PM-6:00 PM. All members of the Cal Poly Campus community, and San Luis Obispo are welcome and encouraged to attend. Please RSVP for the event as all registrants who attend will be entered in to a raffle to win a signed copy of Project 562.