We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Monique Candelaria. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Monique below.
Alright, Monique thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I knew I wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally when I was 10 years old singing for my cousins wedding. I felt honored to be asked to be part of the creation of an everlasting memory. I am enticed by the experience of capturing a moment in time or allowing someone to experience a profound emotional response when they are not the ones directly involved. For this reason, I actively explore every art form and see how I can work the medium to create this connection with my audience. This is a challenge that consistently evolves, and I love knowing that I always have something to look forward to.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
In my life, I am consistently asked, “What are you?”. I chuckle to myself as I internally joke that I am an alien; but, on a serious note, I understand that any individual asking me this question is curious about my background. So, I choose to take the question as a compliment and do my best to be honest about my ethnic mix, educate on the reality of American history, culture stripping and the process of how difficult it is to reconnect when so much family heritage is lost from trying to self preserve in a world where many indigenous people were looked down on for being anything other than white.
With that being said, genetically, I am a mix of Apache, Native from Sinaloa, and European Ancestry (Spanish and Basque). The best way to sum this up is I am Hispanic of Indigenous and Spanish Descent. With this knowledge, I feel blessed to live in the state of New Mexico, where these cultures are alive and thriving. Its a beautiful feeling to know I can embrace all that I am in my everyday life and be accepted by my brothers and sisters from various tribes around the world when I have been given the honor of stepping into indigenous characters outside of my Apache heritage.
Some beautiful highlights in my career for this would be the HBO series “Lovecraft Country,” where I embodied the Two-Spirited character named Yahima. The Netflix preschool cartoon series called “Spirit Rangers, ” where I was honored to be a part of an all Native cast as the voice of the Mom Thunderbird. An independent film called “Driftless,” where I bring to life a mixed Lakota park ranger named Nova fighting to protect the land and honor her culture. And, last but not least, I will be part of an all Native touring musical called “Bear Grease”! This traveling theatre production is the Native version of “Grease” created by Crystal Lightning and MC RedCloud!
When it comes to embracing all that I am, I have to admit some of my skills are unorthodox but come in handy. For example, I am capable of moving each part of my face independently and specializing in voice manipulation and stylized body movement. In the mini list above you can see that voice and movement play huge parts in the development of these characters and I am grateful to have the ability to use every tool in my actor toolbelt to do all that I love on film, in a sound studio or on a live stage.
Now, what I expressed above are the physical attributes that have colored my artistic path. However, they do not express why the arts mean so much to me and how my craft has supported my ideals of what it means to create impactful stories. Let’s begin with “Lovecraft Country” episode 4, “History of Violence.” This episode does a beautiful job of showing how indigenous people have been silenced in a disgusting way. It’s a subject that is in plain view; yet never fully discussed in the episode itself or even in the podcast. I’d love this opportunity to share my perspective of how the character was treated on and off screen.
The 1st form of silence is for someone to speak for you. Throughout the entire series, Yahima Maraocoti was the only character that was not provided subtitles, and in the episode, Yahima’s story could only be understood through the verbal translation given by Atticus Freeman. With over 3 minutes of consistent dialogue given by this indigenous character, there was no way for every word to be repeated verbatim by Atticus. Therefore, much of the story is lost, and it’s easy to see how, in real life, many tribes around the world are misunderstood when their language is being translated by others. The second form of silence is violence. In the episode when Yahima starts screaming in the elevator, we see that brute force is used by Atticus to knockout Yahima as a way to shut them up as fast as possible. We see this on a daily basis as people choose physical violence when they don’t like what they hear. The 3rd form of silence is death. The character Montrose Freeman is so fearful of what could come from the knowledge that Yahima possesses that he chooses to kill them and end all possibilities of exploring something further that terrifies him. Throughout history, we can see that fear is a motivating factor to justify doing horrendous acts. The 4th form of silence is when emotions are felt by those who relate to a story, express their feelings, and feel unheard/unseen. This occurrence took place when the show runner apologized for the treatment of the character Yahima without having a full discussion on the subject of violence experienced by POC and LGBTQ2+ communities on and off screen To top it off, the whole segment of the episode that included Yahima was avoided in the podcast as if that segment never existed…These are not easy topics to discuss, but violence leading to death are still being felt by these communities and it’s not okay to remain in a state of ignorance… When we choose to have these discussions, we can begin to understand and make active decisions to evolve as a whole and protect those in need. To me, art is meant to open doors for analyzation and discussion. Unfortunately, this opportunity was lost.
The 2 other projects that will be coming out in the future that have profound messages are “Spiral into the Yellow Void” and “Maktoub.”
“Spiral into the Yellow Void” touches on concepts like soul purpose, a sense of belonging, depression, suicide and spiritual enlightenment. This film emphasises that each person has a path to follow that is theirs alone, and no matter how noble our intentions are, we must give ourselves grace when things don’t go as planned.
The other film “Maktoub” is a cultural fantasy drama that connects tribes from North America to Africa and focuses on how our ancestors call us home even when we have been separated from our culture.
It is these profound messages in the projects I take on that make my soul sing and what keeps my fire burning.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Pivoting is an essential act of survival when choosing to pursue a career in the performance arts. I have always had a lot of pride in being a hard worker and somehow managing to make a living off acting, singing, and modeling. But, I was met with a harsh reality when the pandemic hit the world because all my skills were rendered useless when everything I did for a living required being around people and having an audience… 16 years of my life went up in flames, and I had to ask myself who I am when I am not performing. The conclusion I came to was that I am spiritual being having a human experience. In a world of chaos, I desired nothing more than to make a living by helping those around me and finding new ways to be creative in my own company. So, I became a certified Stone Practitioner to help others through vibrational medicine and taught myself how to make wire wrapped jewelry and paint. These new skills helped me not only survive but thrive. I found it empowering to realize that even when I had to pivot, I found new skills where I could still form a connection to others even at a distance and stay true to myself.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
Contact Info:
- Other: https://linktr.ee/MKC.369
Image Credits
Helen Mooxie