Fall 2023 Faculty Spotlight

Dr. Gavin Healey

Dr. Gavin Healey is an Assistant Professor in Anthropology and Applied Indigenous Studies and focuses in Semiotic Ethnography.

He collaborates with Indigenous and Native American graffiti and street artists to investigate the functionality of graffiti muralism.

Dr. Healey holds an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in American Indian Studies from the University of Arizona and has been working with Native artists and communities for the past 15 years in community-based participatory research. He has a book chapter coming out in 2024 titled “Alternative Signs of Community Togetherness: Native American and Indigenous Graffiti Muralism of the Pandemic” in the volume Covid-19 in Indian Country (February 2024).

He is also in the organizational phase of a project with Hoka Skenandore—a Native American graffiti artist and assistant professor at the Institute of American Indian Arts—and Matthew Ryan Smith—Curator & Head of Collections of Glenhyrst Art Gallery (Ontario, Canada), the literary editor of First American Art Magazine, and an editorial board member for the Yearbook of Moving Image Studies—that involves an edited volume discussing Indigenous Graffiti Muralism with artists, a curated exhibition of the artists’ work, and a companion exhibition catalogue.

Dr. Healey’s work involves students and community artists in collaborative, generative work.

Dr. Healey will also be contributing to an edited series by NAU Professor Karen Jarratt-Snider (AIS) and Professor Emeritus Marianne Nelson (CCJ) in a volume on Indigenous Climate Justice that will speak about graffiti muralism messaging and Indigenous climate justice, tentatively titled “Guerilla Public Prose: Dialectic Advocacy of Indigenous Climate Justice through Graffiti Muralism.” In his down time, he loves hanging out with his cat Petri and catching a good sci-fi movie.