Exploring Identity Through Art
Julie Acosta is a multidisciplinary artist based in California whose work explores identity, memory, and cultural storytelling. Working primarily in animation, mixed media, and illustration, her practice weaves together personal narratives and collective histories, often drawing from Indigenous perspectives and lived experience. Julie holds a B.A. in Art from UC Santa Cruz, where she deepened her interest in visual storytelling and cultural representation.
Her work is inspired by community, family, and the land—blending traditional techniques with playful experimentation. From frame-by-frame animation to hand-drawn illustration, Julie’s creative process is rooted in curiosity and care. She is also the author of Xiutla, a cultural fiction novel that reflects her passion for storytelling across mediums.
Through her art, Julie creates space for connection, reflection, and reimagining. Her practice continues to evolve as she explores themes of belonging, voice, and visibility.
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Let me introduce myself a bit more.
The Creation of my Beaded Cap
Choosing my Design
Choosing my Design
Choosing my Design
Immediately in my design choice I wanted to go with a Sunset gradient. The progression from deep red and orange to yellow and pale blue is a classic “sunset” or “sunrise” motif in Native beadwork.
Color Symbolism
Choosing my Design
Choosing my Design
• Red: The west (sunset direction), strength, and life force
• Orange/Yellow: Light, hope, knowledge, and transformation
• Light Blue/White: Sky, spirit, peace, or transition.
Sunset Gradient
Choosing my Design
Corner V Shapes (Sun Rays or Mountains)
Together, these gradients capture the sacred movement of the sun across the sky — a symbol of journey, time, and cycles. In a graduation context, this mirrors a major life transition: the close of one chapter and the rise of another.
Corner V Shapes (Sun Rays or Mountains)
Corner V Shapes (Sun Rays or Mountains)
Corner V Shapes (Sun Rays or Mountains)
Each corner of the cap features a V-shaped gold design resembling a sun ray, or feather tips:
• This may represent sunbeams or rays of knowledge extending outward.
• The points could also symbolize feathers, which are often tied to honor, prayer, and guidance.
Cultural Significance in Context
Corner V Shapes (Sun Rays or Mountains)
Cultural Significance in Context
This design is not just decorative — it communicates resilience, gratitude, and Indigenous presence. On a graduation cap, it visually asserts that the wearer’s achievement is not individualistic, but connected to community, ancestors, and land.
The use of beads, a traditionally sacred and skilled medium, turns the cap into a statement of cultural endurance and celebration — one that honors both tradition and future.
Ribbon Skirt Design
Fabric Choice
Sunset Ribbon Colors (Red, Orange, Yellow, White, Blue)
Sunset Ribbon Colors (Red, Orange, Yellow, White, Blue)
I am Jumano Apache from Texas. The chosen pattern is reminiscent of Southwest and Plains visual language. The repeating diamonds, arrows, and sun-like motifs can represent:
• Continuity of tradition
• Guidance from ancestors
• Direction and movement forward
The turquoise and deep blue hues also echo water and sky—elements vital to Apache lands and lifeways, especially in Texas where water and land are sacred.
Sunset Ribbon Colors (Red, Orange, Yellow, White, Blue)
Sunset Ribbon Colors (Red, Orange, Yellow, White, Blue)
Sunset Ribbon Colors (Red, Orange, Yellow, White, Blue)
These sunset-inspired ribbons symbolize transition and honor the cycle of life—sunrise to sunset. In Apache and broader Native contexts, these colors often represent:
• Red – Life, strength, the sacred earth
• Orange/Yellow – The warmth of the sun, knowledge, and hope
• White – Purity, spirit, and connection to ancestors
• Blue – Sky, water, and protection
Sunset Ribbons
Sunset Ribbon Colors (Red, Orange, Yellow, White, Blue)
Together, they speak to balance, direction, and ceremony. Worn for graduation, they reflect a powerful moment of crossing into a new phase of life, with gratitude for the journey behind and strength for the one ahead.
Bear Paw Appliqué
Bear Paw Appliqué
The bear paw signifies strength, courage, and protection. For many Indigenous people, especially across the Southwest, the bear is a protector and teacher. Placing it at the center of my skirt visually grounds my path with resilience and spiritual power.
Bear Paw Motif
Bear Paw Appliqué
Bear Paw Motif
The gradient of red, orange, and yellow within the paw evokes fire and the setting sun—both symbols of transformation and ceremony. Centered on the skirt, the bear paw anchors the design with meaning, showing that my path is guided by ancestral strength and lit by my connection to land, culture, and purpose.
Graduation Gown Design and Final Results
Laying Out My Ribbons
Laying Out My Ribbons
Laying Out My Ribbons
The material of the gown was extremely thin, so I began my ribbon work by attaching them to muslin first.This helped reinforce the material, and also made the ribbons easier to attach to the gown. The process took a little longer, but overall made the process much easier.
Chevron Design
Laying Out My Ribbons
Laying Out My Ribbons
With the chevron pointing upward, the symbolism emphasizes aspiration, elevation, and forward momentum. In many Native cultures, including Apache traditions, upward-pointing designs often relate to prayer, reaching toward the Creator, and rising above obstacles. The triangle can also echo the shape of a mountain — a sacred symbol of strength, vision, and connection to the spiritual world.
Bear Paw Motif
Laying Out My Ribbons
On the sleeves, this upward-pointing chevron frames the bear paw with intention. It suggests that my journey is not just about where I've been, but where I'm going — guided by strength, protected by tradition, and lifted by prayer. The design becomes a visual message: keep going, keep rising, and take your teachings with you.
Back Design
The Final Look
At the top center is an eight-pointed white star, which can represent direction, guidance, and ceremony. For many Native peoples, including Apache communities, stars are not just celestial objects — they are ancestors, storytellers, and spiritual markers.
Below the star is a stylized red tulip or floral design with geometric symmetry and rooted black branches. Floral imagery in Indigenous regalia often represents growth, life, and continuation. While the tulip is more common in Northeastern woodland beadwork, its inclusion here—centered and upright—symbolizes cultural survival and adaptation. It stands tall and proud, blooming with resilience.
The crossed arrows at the base of the floral stem ground the whole design in peace, friendship, and unity. Together, the star, the blooming flower, and the arrows tell a story of navigating with ancestral guidance, thriving through cultural beauty, and staying rooted in community harmony.
This arrangement on the back is deeply ceremonial — it honors where I’ve come from, who walks with me, and how I carry all of it forward.
The Final Look
The Final Look
The Final Look
This graduation outfit is a powerful celebration of identity, heritage, and accomplishment. Every element—from the beadwork and ribbons to the appliqués—was thoughtfully chosen to reflect Apache culture and personal significance. The vibrant sunset palette used across the skirt, sleeves, and cap evokes both beauty and transition, symbolizing the closing of one chapter and the rising of a new one.
The bear paw, featured prominently throughout, represents strength, guidance, and protection—qualities that carry the graduate forward. The eight-pointed star and crossed arrows on the back of the gown speak to direction, unity, and peace. Together, these elements form more than a regalia—they tell a story of resilience, belonging, and pride. This is not just a celebration of academic achievement, but of cultural continuity and personal empowerment.
XIUTLA - By Julie D Acosta
Set in 16th-century Mexico and Spain, Xiutla tells the story of Ysabel Xuihtlamiyaual, a young Nahua woman from the lush, vibrant valley of Xiutla, and her journey to preserve her people's heritage amid the Spanish conquest. Ysabel, the daughter of a chieftain, finds herself a bridge between her indigenous roots and the Spanish world, balancing love, resilience, and duty as she enters an arranged marriage with a Spanish nobleman. Through generations, her legacy endures, carried forward by her grandson Tlamatini, who seeks to reclaim his heritage and connect with the land and spirit of his ancestors. Xiutla is a powerful narrative of cultural pride, transformation, and the quest to keep one’s identity alive across time and adversity.