Throughout the previous 5 years, there was a welcome surge of perception into modern Indigenous tradition by way of TV and movie. That essential storytelling occurs not simply by way of trustworthy dialogue and scripts helmed by Indigenous writers, but in addition in how we see characters residing onscreen. It’s in what their properties appear like and the cultural items that emphasize their values. All of it issues, and all of it’s intentional.
In case you have watched the Emmy-nominated TV present “Reservation Dogs” and the Lily Gladstone–led movie “Fancy Dance,” you’re already conversant in Tafv Sampson’s work. The Muscogee set designer is understood for creating genuine, lived-in surroundings that looks like house for the Indigenous actors on set and welcomes viewers into the featured tribal communities. The characters she develops are likely to turn out to be one with their environment, and that’s by design.
“With ‘Rez Dogs,’ we were making something in a real community, which is pretty rare in TV and film,” says Sampson, who even took an appearing activate the present. “Working with all these people in the community and bringing their special objects into the set made me think about why these things are so important to us. We hold onto these relics that are passed down generation after generation so we can share them and tell stories about them.” For her, the oral custom so integral to Native cultures is fueled by these items.
Sampson’s visible storytelling can also be at instances bolstered by private belongings contributed by the manufacturing’s forged and crew members. Memorable situations embody the “Rez Dogs” Season 2 episode “Mabel,” which follows a grieving teen processing the lack of her grandmother and options blankets, pictures, and different household heirlooms to replicate a life well-lived and an elder well-loved. These seemingly easy objects infuse scenes with power and which means.
These artfully integrated particulars delight even administrators, who typically aren’t interacting with Sampson all that a lot past brainstorming classes. “One of my favorite moments working with Tafv on ‘Fancy Dance’ was entering this home where an older person lived and discovering a Big Gulp cup sitting on the table with this piece of chewed gum on top,” says Seneca–Cayuga author and director Erica Tremblay, who was named to HuffPost’s 2023 Tradition Shifters record.
“She thinks about even the tiniest minutiae of what a space should be and fills it with these thoughtful details,” Tremblay provides. “So even though the camera may never actually see that level of detail, it creates this environment for your actors to inhabit, take signals from, and communicate with — it really affects their understanding of their own characters.”
That degree of intentionality has earned Sampson accolades in addition to ample admiration from Native creatives and audiences alike. All through all of it, her aim has been to boost illustration whereas upholding a household custom in movie. Sampson’s grandfather, the trailblazing Muscogee actor Will Sampson, and her late father, actor and activist Tim Sampson, each introduced authenticity to their careers, subtly informing non-Natives about Indigenous tradition by way of their craft.
Engaged on these reveals set and shot in Oklahoma, the place the Muscogee individuals settled after being forcibly faraway from their ancestral homelands and enduring the Path of Tears, has given Sampson a deeper connection to her neighborhood and her tradition (she grew up in Portland and Los Angeles). Though she by no means met her grandpa — he died two years earlier than she was born — his legacy looms massive within the Sooner State.
“Because I didn’t grow up in [the Muscogee] community, I didn’t hear much about him other than family stories,” Sampson says. “But since I’ve started spending more time in Oklahoma, everyone comes up to me to talk about him. It makes me so proud — and also gives me a lot to live up to.”
She not too long ago wrapped a six-month stint in Oklahoma engaged on “The Lowdown,” a brand new crime noir present from “Rez Dogs” showrunner Sterlin Harjo (Muscogee/Seminole) set to debut in September. Like Tremblay, Harjo entrusted Sampson with the power to create these worlds.
“We don’t even have to talk too much about things — she just understands it,” Harjo says. “There’s a spirituality and an energy to her design work that permeates the story and the characters. It gives the story something firm to stand on. Everyone feels it, and the actors and crew tell the story better and work harder because of the care and specificity that Tafv brings to her work.”
Along with set adorning, she’s additionally ending a screenplay that her father began, based mostly on his time on the Sequoyah Indian boarding college. Sampson can also be within the means of launching an organization to focus on Native artisans by way of limited-edition collaborations.
In her personal manner, Sampson is creating household heirlooms to be preserved onscreen and handed all the way down to the subsequent technology, very like her ancestors did earlier than her. “I’m just bringing my dad and my grandpa along with me for this ride that I know they’d be very excited to be on,” she says. “At the end of the day, it’s really about making them proud.”
