Elisa Harkins artist

Elisa Harkins (Cherokee, Muscogee) is an artist, singer, electronic music composer, and curator whose work is concerned with the body, language revitalization, and Indigenous music. From 2020 to 2024, she created and hosted Mvhayv (Teacher) Radio on 99.1 WQRT in Indianapolis, Indiana, an all-Indigenous radio program that featured Indigenous musicians across genres, from experimental sound artists and language keepers to powwow groups and black metal artists.

Harkins has exhibited and performed at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, The Getty, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, MoMA, Spoleto Festival USA, and REDCAT. She is a recipient of a Creative Capital Award, and her work has been commissioned and performed by the Kronos Quartet as part of the Three Bones program at Carnegie Hall.

In addition to her artistic practice, Harkins presents lectures, artist talks, and workshops throughout the United States and Canada on Indigenous music, language revitalization, and contemporary art. Harkins is a citizen of the Muscogee Nation and of Cherokee descent and lives and works on the Muscogee Reservation in Oklahoma.