Derek No-Sun Brown is from the Shoshone-Bannock, Klamath, and Anishinabe people. He was raised on the Boise Fort Reservation in northen Minnesota and the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in Idaho. No-Sun has been quoted as saying: “Being exposed to different cultures at an early age made me appreciate and love all my people because we are connected to the same source, we all fight the same war and share the same struggle. The Source is our ceremony, and the struggle that is shared between all Native people are issues of identity, poverty, and degradation of indigenous culture and land. The war is how Native people fight against these issues; today we fight using education, legislation, music, art, and many other facets other than non-physical solutions.” No-Sun also stated: “Art for me was a way to combat the negative aspects of reservation life because a lot of things are out of your control at a young age, and art was something I could control; it eased my anxiety and gave me an outlet for my energy.” No-Sun is a graduate of the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico.