This episode premieres a new series featuring interviews with participating artists from the 2017 Unceded Voices: Anticolonial Street Artists Convergence, a biennial convergence of primarily Indigenous-identified women/2spirit/Queer/, Black and Women of Color street artists in Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyaang, unceded Haudenosaunee and Anishinabe territories (also known as Montreal). This conversation is with participating artist Jessica Canard.

Artists Dayna Dangers and Jessica Canard. Collaboration for Unceded Voices 2015

" I am a multi-media visual artist who is highly influenced by street art. I use those various mediums in my work to share ideas and experiences that come from a place of building stronger communities because I believe it takes a community to raise a strong caring person." -Jessica Canard 2017 Unceded Voices participating artist

Here is the conversation with Jessica Canard:

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Music Featured on this episode by youth participants from Graffiti Art Programming

This conversation was hosted by Ginger Dunnill of Broken Boxes Podcast

More about the artist:

Jessica Canard is a multi-media visual artist who is inspired by street art and murals due to how accessible it is to the public. Born and currently based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, she has goals of traveling and making art internationally. She wants to share skills, ideas, and experiences with others in an equal exchange so she can bring back what she’s learned to her communities. Her roots are from Sagkeeng First Nation where she is using art to explore, reclaim, and bridge this part of her heritage with urban living. Her main focus is to use art as a tool for self reflection/growth, to engage the public, and build stronger communities. Accomplished at a young age, she’s been facilitating art workshops for youth since the age of 17, at 21 her work was purchased by the Canadian Museum for Human Rights thanks to a partnership that was started between the museum and the Michaelle Jean Foundation, at 25 she created her first out of province collaborative mural, and now she’s working towards those international goals.

"I have a focus on large scale production, such as murals, and I’m really into sharing knowledge and skills through the facilitation of art workshops. I was born in and am currently based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It has an influence on my art making and so does my heritage as an Ojibwe woman from Sagkeeng First Nation. Themes that come up in my work are influenced by the disconnect I have from my culture due to the process of colonization and how I am trying to reclaim that part of my identity. I don’t see myself reflected in the world around me and creating art is my way of making sure that I am represented, that my culture, and my communities are represented too. I also use art as a tool for self growth/reflection, to engage the public, and build stronger relationships between communities and their members. To me art is about bringing people together and creating positive change." - Jessica Canard

UNCEDED VOICES: Anticolonial Street Artists Convergence. August 13-21 2017

Unceded Voices: Anticolonial Street Artists Convergence is a biennial convergence of primarily Indigenous-identified women/2spirit/Queer/, Black and Women of Color street artists in Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyaang, unceded Haudenosaunee and Anishinabe territories (also known as Montreal). The goal of this convergence is three-fold: to develop a network of solidarity and support between Indigenous women/2Spirit/Queer and women of color street artists ; to promote anticolonial resistance through diverse street art interventions; and to foster relationships and dialogue between the collective and the broader community.Through street art interventions (murals, wheat pastes, stencils, graffiti, textile art, performances, etc.), the artists in Unceded Voices collective are from all over Turtle Island and express their demands, identities and histories.

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/decolonizingstreetart

Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/unceded_voices