Racquel Banaszak (Bad River Band of Ojibwe) is a visual artist and educator based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her people are from the northern waters and woodlands. She has grown up around Native and urban communities. She is continually inspired by her mother’s stories, urban relocation, and Indigenous pop culture.
She is a doctoral student in the department of history at the University of Minnesota. She recently earned her Master of Heritage Studies and Public History degree at the University of Minnesota. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and agraduate certificate in Native American Studies from Montana State University (2018). She studied Indigenous Visual Culture at the Ontario College of Art & Design University in Toronto, Canada. She has worked in community arts, Indigenous youth work, and American Indian Education.
Her work focuses on Indigenous histories, languages, and contemporary representation. She is inspired by our relationships with the cosmos, waterways, and our more-than-human relatives. She is interested in how settler colonial policies and laws have influenced personal and community narratives and identities. Her works often combine photographs, illustrations, beadwork and textiles as a way to build futures full of joy and hope.