Charles Wohlforth: Native artist embarks on Shapeshifters project

Jenny Irene Miller’s photography project will tell the world about LGBT Alaska Natives — shapeshifters, she says — including herself.

Miller identifies as gay, two-spirit. She has a girlfriend and recognizes feminine and masculine qualities in herself. After hiding her sexual identity and her race, passing as white in school instead of Iñupiaq, she wants to make portraits and tell stories of people with two spirits, male and female, as an act of liberation.

She’s starting with herself.

“I’m not fully out to everyone in my family, but I need to be,” Miller said. “I’m ready, but I’m also afraid of all the hurt and negativity. I think that, for me to live my life, without hiding any part of me, would be completely healthy and fulfilling for my spirit and my well-being as an individual and as a part of a community.”