What We Do
109+ is a statewide effort to paint a permanent mural in a prominent location in every community across California, honoring every California tribe — all 109 federally recognized tribes, with the “+” representing unrecognized and urban Native communities. Each mural carries the basketry or regalia imagery that the community chooses to represent itself. As you travel the state, each city offers a glimpse of the Native culture of that region.
Founded and led by David Mata (Karuk, Yokuts, yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini Northern Chumash Tribe), 109+ is incorporated as 109 Plus Initiative Inc.
Meet the Team
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![David Mata, founder and CEO of 109+]()
David Mata — Founder & CEO, 109 Plus Initiative Inc.
David is a self-taught muralist and painter of Karuk, Yokuts, and yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini (ytt) Northern Chumash descent, born and raised in Arcata, CA. Before founding 109+, he spent 20 years in the fire service, as a founding member of The Golden Eagles Hotshots, the only Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Native American firefighting crew in California, and later with CAL FIRE. Traveling up and down the state to fight fires, he never stopped wondering whose homeland he was crossing, and what it looked like when the original people knew it. That question is part of what drives 109+: murals of basketry and regalia, so anyone traveling California can glimpse the Native culture of each place. Outside the murals, he and Talisa are raising three daughters and a new Xoloitzcuintli (Mexican Hairless) puppy. He’s into cars and always happy to be fed by Talisa’s cooking.
We live by the basket.
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![Talisa Mata, co-founder and CFO of 109+]()
Talisa Mata—Co-Founder & CFO, 109 Plus Initiative Inc.
Talisa is of Maya descent, and being a mom is the most important thing in her life. She holds a degree in child development, still substitutes in classrooms, and is raising three daughters. She and David met 20 years ago, and she’s been by his side ever since. Alongside him, she handles the business side of 109+: finances, logistics, and most of the photography on this site. On painting days she’s his assistant, taping, touching up and cleaning up. He bounces ideas off her, and she bounces some back. She also writes the poems that appear beside the murals, and David approves each one. She keeps the engines running. Off the clock, she can usually be found in the kitchen, with no formal training needed, just a love of cooking and baking for the people around her. She’s the heart of the operation, and of the home.
We are proud to be raising an incredible family basket.
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![Jordan Price, art scout for 109+]()
Jordan Price — Art Scout, 109 Plus Initiative Inc.
Jordan is a graffiti artist who came up in San Francisco in the ’90s. He went on to make fine art, customize shoes, and design apps. He apprenticed in the art studio of legendary Japanese pop artist, Takashi Murakami. A member of the Yurok Tribe and grandson of Jessie Short, whose lawsuit reshaped Yurok history, he’s been David’s friend since junior high school. He was willing to tell David the hard truth about his work back then, and inspire him to get better. He’ll do the same for every apprentice who wants to learn with 109+. These days he loves to travel to Vietnam, where he is building a language app and riding a motorbike between pickleball games.
No shortcuts. Come hungry.
Community painting: David prepares a paint-by-numbers plan — every color mixed, every section mapped — so anyone can paint basketry imagery — no art background needed. Regalia, with its finer detail, is typically painted by David and trained apprentices.
A gathering, not a job site: painting day is an active, joyful reclaiming of community and culture, done directly on the wall or on panels painted off-site and installed later.
Paid regional apprentices: where infrastructure and grant funding supports it, local Native artists are paid to learn mural technique through mentorship — the craft, the business, and the cultural reconnection that comes with it.
How a Project Works
Paid consultation: when someone's direct guidance shapes a mural's design, they're compensated for it.
The Return: every mural is signed — not with David's name, but with its title, "The Return," translated into the local language where a translation is known. For example, in Araráhih, the language of the Karuk people, Ípak carries the meaning of return. The name marks what the mural is: the return of people, of community, of knowledge to a place.
Basketry and regalia are central to the visual language of 109+. The imagery for each mural honors the tribal people of that place — developed with those in the community who choose to help shape it, and through careful research where that connection has been lost. Each mural is also an invitation: a chance for people to look back, reconnect, and rediscover culture that time, displacement, or history may have obscured.
Imagery Chosen by the Community
A Place of Its Own
A mural in a prominent public location — an entrance, downtown, a city hall, a library, etc. — putting the imagery of its people in the heart of the region.
Every mural becomes part of a statewide movement across California. Travel city to city, region to region — baskets and regalia shifting subtly from place to place, each reflecting its own people. Notice how each one differs. Notice how much they share. Each mural is a homecoming for some, a reminder that we never left for others. 109+ keeps painting, one mural at a time — rooted in thousands of years of connection, and open to anyone ready to stand behind that vision.
Woven Into Something Larger
This is where it leads: a future where our presence isn't a memory, but a constant. Where every highway, every downtown, every entrance to a city carries a piece of who we are, and who we've always been. A future where understanding replaces assumption, and belonging isn't something we have to prove.
This is the future 109+ is painting — one mural, one community, at a time.
Where This Leads
Support the Work
109+ is funded through grants, commissions, and direct support. Every contribution goes toward materials, artist and apprentice wages, and community mural costs.
109+ grows through relationship, not requests. If you're part of a tribal community, urban Native organization, or "+" community interested in exploring a mural, reach out — we'll talk through what that process looks like together.