Elisa Harkins is a Native American (Cherokee/Muscogee) artist based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her work is concerned with translation, language preservation, and Indigenous musicology. Harkins uses the Cherokee and Mvskoke languages, electronic music, sculpture, and the body as her tools. Harkins received a BA from Columbia College, Chicago and an MFA from California Institute of the Arts. She has since continued her education at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She has exhibited her work at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, documenta 14, Hammer Museum, Heard Museum, and Museum of Modern Art. Harkins resides on the Muscogee Reservation and is an enrolled member of the Muscogee Nation.