Tiśina Ta-till-ium Parker

Tiśina Ta-till-ium Parker is a California Indigenous textile designer, regalia maker and community cultural art activist. Tiśina is the granddaughter of Ralph and Julia F. Parker, daughter of Louis and Patricia Parker. Her people are Yosemite Southern Sierra Miwuk/Kutzadika’a Mono Lake Paiute from her Grandfather’s lineage and Kashia Pomo/Coast Miwuk from her Grandmother’s lineage. Tiśina was born and raised in her sacred tribal homeland of Mariposa/Yosemite. Born into a strong Indigenous lineage, Tiśina has practiced ceremony with her Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation (SSMN) & Yosemite Paiute tribal communities since birth. She descends from a powerful matriarchy of notable California basketmakers including her Grandfather’s Grandmother, Lucy Telles and her Grandmother Julia Parker.Tiśina holds a BA in Community Studies from UC Santa Cruz with an emphasis in Art Education and a BFA in Sustainable Fashion/Textile Design from California College of the Arts in San Francisco where she graduated with honors as “Emerging Talent.” She is an active member of Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation. In 2018 Tiśina represented SSMN, alongside tribal leaders, in Washington D.C. to petition for Federal Recognition, an ongoing 30+ year battle with the U.S. government for tribal sovereignty. In her lifeway, Tiśina designs, creates and collaborates within Native community and works deeply within regenerative design practices to create cultural art and textile work that is in balance with Indigenous ways of being. Tiśina’s life work is dedicated to community building and Indigenous cultural regeneration through the mediums of traditional regalia making, textiles, and community cultural arts activism.