DEMOCRACY
copywriter + co-director (film) + voiceover:30 Spot | American Indian College Fund
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy
Art Director: Sam Perry
Copywriter: Robin Maxkii
Director: Joe Pytka
Democracy is a continuation of the This Is Indian Country campaign, created to challenge erasure and reclaim Native truth in American identity. This spot focuses on one core idea: Native people shaped the very concept of representative democracy that the United States is built on—but are rarely credited for it.
I wrote and co-directed (film) the piece with legendary director Joe Pytka during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. With limited budget, no access to on-camera talent, and strict location restrictions, we turned those constraints into focus. The result is a quiet, striking visual meditation shot at Mount Rushmore—where the faces of the so-called founding fathers loom large, but no Native presence is seen.
We stole the shots guerrilla-style. The camera lingers on stone faces that represent a system Native people helped inspire, yet remain excluded from. There is no narration. Only text. It ends with a simple truth: This is Indian Country.
The power of the spot lies in its restraint. It doesn't argue. It asserts. In a place carved without us, we place ourselves back in the frame.
I wrote and co-directed (film) the piece with legendary director Joe Pytka during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. With limited budget, no access to on-camera talent, and strict location restrictions, we turned those constraints into focus. The result is a quiet, striking visual meditation shot at Mount Rushmore—where the faces of the so-called founding fathers loom large, but no Native presence is seen.
We stole the shots guerrilla-style. The camera lingers on stone faces that represent a system Native people helped inspire, yet remain excluded from. There is no narration. Only text. It ends with a simple truth: This is Indian Country.
The power of the spot lies in its restraint. It doesn't argue. It asserts. In a place carved without us, we place ourselves back in the frame.