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Born Salvatore Mendoza II in Rome, NY in 1970, Torry has been my moniker since childhood. I come from a diverse ethnic background and identify as being Native American (Mescalero Apache). In 1991, I completed my formal art instruction from Munson-Williams-Proctor-Institute School of Art (now Pratt at Munson-Williams-Proctor) in Utica, NY; completing my formal undergraduate study at the University of Colorado, Boulder in 2002 where I received a B.F.A. in film and a B.A. in studio arts (photography). At CU, I served as a Council Member on the Native American Student Organization, Oyate; and was also privileged to work for the Native American Rights Fund (NARF), primarily through their National Indian Law Library (NILL) in numerous positions for four years. Starting in 2005, I have been a contributing editor for the Native American Indigenous Cinema and Arts Organization (NAICA, Inc.:http//www.thenaica.org) a non-profit organization, and was appointed as a Vice-President to its Board of Directors in 2008. In January 2006, I chaired a session and presented two papers; Native American Imagery in Film: The Postcolonial Problem and the Need to Further Develop a Fourth Cinema and The Socially Constructed Native American Stereotype and the Reclamation of Native American Identity at the 4th Annual Hawai'i International Conference on Arts and Humanities in Honolulu, HI. I also worked with Syracuse University, the Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation (NOON), and the Onondaga Nation producing, shooting, editing and constructing DVDs for a year long collaborative education series entitled, Onondaga Land Rights Series & Our Common Future. In 2007, I received my MFA in film from Syracuse University's Department of Transmedia in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. In 2007, I began my association with Seattle based, Longhouse Media Native Lens Superfly Filmmaking program, and the year also marked my various engagements with film festivals, organizations and higher education facilities as a visiting filmmaker and educator, which continues today. April of 2008 rewarded me with an honorable mention at the 35th Annual Athens International Film and Video Festival in Athens, OH for my short video, Good Riddance Chief Illiniwek and October saw me in a group show at A Space Gallery and Trinity Square Video, curated by Ryan Rice HOW: Engagements with the "Hollywood Indian" (in association with imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival). Currently, I am in pre-preduction of a feature length documentary and I continue to create video art that contests images of Native Americans within and by the dominant society, as well as actively submitting to film festivals the world over.
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