Conversation with Artists Chief Lady Bird and Aura Last - Unceded Voices Project

August 22, 2017 by Ginger Dunnill

In this episode we get into conversation with artists Chief Lady Bird and Aura Last, collaborators on a large mural project as part of 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). Chief Lady Bird and Aura Last connect about what collaboration means to their practice and how their collaborative work engages with youth as a central point of engagement. We also dive into how both artists practice their art as a form of decolonization and resilience, and how their work embeds coding into public urban spaces to reclaim power for indigenous peoples and as a form of healing.

Here is the conversation with Chief Lady Bird & Aura Last:

Subscribe to Broken Boxes Podcast on iTunes HERE to stream and download this episode

This conversation was hosted by Ginger Dunnill of Broken Boxes Podcast

More about the artists:

Chief Lady Bird and Aura Last portrait.JPG

Chief Lady Bird:
Nancy King (Chief Lady Bird) is a First Nations (Potawatomi and Chippewa) artist from Rama First Nation. Her Anishinaabe name is Ogimaakwebnes, which means Chief Lady Bird. She has completed her BFA in Drawing and Painting with a minor in Indigenous Visual Culture at OCAD University and has been exhibiting her work since she was 14 years old. Through her art practice, she strives to look to the past to help her navigate her Anishinaabe identity whilst living in an urban space as well as advocate for Indigenous representation as an integral aspect of Canada’s national identity. She addresses the complexity of identity through the use of contemporary painting techniques; woodlands style imagery, photography, digital manipulation and traditional Indigenous craft materials and often works with at-risk youth to ensure knowledge and skill sharing/development.

Aura Last:
Monique Bedard (Aura) is a Haudenosaunee (Oneida Nation of the Thames) woman from a small town in Southern Ontario. She has been deeply and passionately involved in visual arts for 11 years. In 2006, she began a formal study of visual arts at Fanshawe College in London, ON. After three years of studies in London, she moved to Lethbridge, AB to complete an undergraduate degree at the University of Lethbridge. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts (Studio Art) degree in 2010 and returned to Ontario where she began instructing group art lessons with children, adolescents and adults. Monique currently resides in Tkaronto, where she is working as an artist, art facilitator and muralist. She is inspired by the healing journey: "I have the passion for community engagement, collaboration and social change where stories are shared through the art making process. Through a holistic approach, it is my aim to empower people by honing in on individuals' strengths. My goal is to build art projects that lead to a deep sense of understanding while connecting through unity, collaboration and transformation."

"It is through the freedom of the creative process that imagination and creativity are ignited, connections are restored, meaning is built, passions are discovered, visions are manifested, ideas are born, inspiration becomes contagious, strength is called upon, and all voices and stories are heard." - Monique Aura

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

Conversation with Artist Jessica Canard - Unceded Voices Project

July 30, 2017 by Ginger Dunnill

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:

Subscribe to Broken Boxes Podcast on iTunes HERE to stream and download this episode

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

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

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

Conversation with Artist Ryan Dennison

July 05, 2017 by Ginger Dunnill

In this episode we get into conversation with Ryan Dennison, a Diné transdisciplinary artist from Tohatchi, NM. Ryan speaks about his family and community as crucial support systems to maintaining his artistic practice. He shares about his role as a teacher of traditional knowledge and how a whole system approach to learning has not only provided strength for his students but also for himself and his artistic practice and performance work. We hear about his latest upcoming photo installation at Shallow Gallery in Gallup, NM and he reflects on queer identity in relationship to growing up in/near the border town Gallup, NM. Ryan also shares about the thriving underground indigenous/queer/poc/womxn music and art scene currently taking place on the Navajo Nation and surrounding areas.

"The Wind Won't Know Me" Solo Performance March 3rd, 2017 at The Hive, Phoenix, AZ Photo by Hannah Manuelito — "The Wind Won't Know Me" Solo Performance March 3rd, 2017 at The Hive, Phoenix, AZ
Photo by Hannah Manuelito

Shapeshifting through various mediums Ryan Dennison exercises the transposition of past and present to share a social and political soundscape to vision our future environment, acknowledging the interconnectedness of land, culture and community. His practice involves both visual art and sound—engaging in performances that utilize Diné traditional tools with self taught media such as contact mics, synthesizers, handmade costumes, and projections.

Here is the conversation with Ryan Dennison:

Subscribe to Broken Boxes Podcast on iTunes HERE to stream and download this episode

Music featured on this podcast: Niyol Nee Ní'íí, Dry Spell and We Can Chill by the artist Ryan Dennison

This conversation was hosted by Ginger Dunnill of Broken Boxes Podcast

More about the artist:

"Moccasin-Gaze" Solo Performance Indie Electro Punk Fest, Shiprock, NM. October 11, 2016. Photo by Nate Lemuel — "Moccasin-Gaze" Solo Performance Indie Electro Punk Fest, Shiprock, NM. October 11, 2016. Photo by Nate Lemuel

Ryan Dennison’s work defuses critical engaged consciousness and liberation technologies through indigenous research, planning, design, education and healing. He comes from a background of experiential, pastoral and traditional ecological knowledge, which constructs a Diné epistemological framework and pedagogical orientation of traditional/western knowledge.

He currently works and lives in Gallup, NM as an educator with indigenous communities actively maintaining, renewing and revitalizing traditional knowledge linking, food, culture, health and the environment.

Dennison has been featured in both solo and collaboration exhibitions across Diné Nation and U.S. Sicksicksick Distro (Albuquerque, NM), “All My Relations” Exhibition (Minneapolis, NM), “Visions into Infinite Archives” Exhibition (San Francisco, CA), Deep White Sound (Portland, OR), and “Future Now / Futura Ahora” (New York City, NY).

In his most current work, Dennison presents a private collection of archival work that traces the formation and growth of indigenous people, through resistance against imperialism, patriarchy and colonial threats to land, space and time. Something of a photographic archaeologist, tracking trends and creating collections that Dennison hopes are culturally significant and glimpses into indigenous time and culture. Dennison has been collecting out of print, discarded, thrown away photos of indigenous people and land since his teens. Follow his instagram @asteriskhyphen that documents his methods and his first photo exhibition will be July 8th 2017 at Shallow Gallery in Gallup, NM.

Conversation with Filmmaker Sterlin Harjo

June 15, 2017 by Ginger Dunnill

Writer/Director Sterlin Harjo belongs to the Seminole and Creek Nations, and is a native of Holdenville, Oklahoma. In this episode of Broken Boxes we hear about Sterlin's journey to becoming a filmmaker and he shares memories of growing up in rural Oklahoma as 'that weird artist kid'. Sterlin also talks about being a founding member of renown Native comedy group the 1491s and reflects on the beginning project that catapulted the group to what it is today. Sterlin also talks about Standing Rock as an Indigenous led global movement and we get his perspective regarding the film works that have come since. Sterlin also offers his insight for existing in a world consumed by social media and offers advice on how to approach creating film work through today's accessible media platforms.

1491s: Sterlin Harjo, Dallas Goldtooth, Ryan RedCorn and Bobby Wilson (Gilcrease 2016)

Here is the conversation with Sterlin Harjo:

Subscribe to Broken Boxes Podcast on iTunes HERE to stream and download this episode

Music featured on this episode by artists John Moreland, Lauren Barth and Silver Jackson.

More about the artist:

Sterlin Harjo belongs to the Seminole and Creek Nations, and is a native of Holdenville, Oklahoma. Interested from an early age in visual art and film, Harjo studied painting at the University of Oklahoma before writing his first feature-length script. Since then Harjo was a participant in the Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program. In 2004, Sundance Institute selected Harjo to receive an Annenberg Fellowship, which provided extended support over a two-year period to facilitate the creation of his feature project. In 2006 Harjo was in the inaugural class of United States Artists award recipients. He was also the youngest recipient.

Sterlin Harjo completed a year of development on his feature film script FOUR SHEETS TO THE WIND through the Sundance Institute’s Filmmaker Labs where he worked under the guidance of industry veterans such as Robert Redford, Stanley Tucci, Joan Tewkesbury, Susan Shilliday, Frank Pierson, Walter Mosley, and Antonia Bird. Sterlin’s project was one of 12 projects chosen from a pool of almost 2,500 based on the uniqueness of his voice, the originality of his story and the promise of this feature film offering something poignant to American cinema.

Harjo’s short film GOOD NIGHT IRENE premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 05 and has went on to play festivals around the world. The short film has garnered Harjo awards including Special Jury Recognition at the Aspen Shorts Festival and Best Oklahoma Film at the Dead Center film festival in Oklahoma City.

In 2007 Harjo’s first feature film, FOUR SHEETS TO THE WIND, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The film garnered warm responses from both audience’s and critics. Tamara Podemski won a Special Jury Prize for outstanding performance for her role in the film as Miri Smallhill. Podemski was also nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for her performance.

Harjo’s film BARKING WATER had a successful premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, and it screened as a part of the highly acclaimed New Directors/New Film series in New York City. Barking Water was the only American film that played in the Venice Days section of the 2009 Venice Film Festival.

Harjo’s first documentary THIS MAY BE THE LAST TIME premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.

Harjo’s film Mekko premiered at The Los Angeles Film Festival in 2015. Mekko also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Stockholm International Film Festival. It won best film at the ImagineNative Film Festival in Toronto.

Harjo is a founding member of the all Native comedy group the 1491s.

This conversation was hosted by Ginger Dunnill of Broken Boxes Podcast

Conversation with Artist and Filmmaker Jess X Snow

June 10, 2017 by Ginger Dunnill

In this episode we get into conversation with queer Asian-American artist, filmmaker and poet JESS X SNOW. She speaks on her migration story and how imposed borders have shaped her art and perspective on place. She touches on how her work has allowed for collaborations with a global community of artists and activists and she speaks on balancing work as a freelance artist with self care and making space to focus on projects that are important to her personal artistic growth. It is an honor to share this conversation to celebrate Broken Boxes Podcast 3 years of programming!

Unbroken By Bars is a public art and storytelling project that brings the love previously incarcerated mothers of color share with their children out from behind the bars and into public space. JESS X SNOW. — **Unbroken By Bars** is a public art and storytelling project that brings the love previously incarcerated mothers of color share with their children out from behind the bars and into public space. JESS X SNOW.

Here is the conversation with JESS X SNOW:

Subscribe to Broken Boxes Podcast on iTunes HERE to stream and download this episode

Music featured on this episode by Kayla Briët

This conversation was hosted by Ginger Dunnill of Broken Boxes Podcast

More about the artist:

JESS X SNOW is a queer Asian-American artist, filmmaker and poet. After the Cultural Revolution, her parents immigrated from Nanchang, China to Canada, which she shortly left at the age of 7 to migrate to the US with her mother. After the splitting of her parents, she developed a stutter which she overcame through her discovery of art, poetry and film.

The Artwork of JESS X CHEN has appeared in the The LA Times, NBC Asian America, The Huffington Post, The UN Human Rights Council and on indoor and outdoor walls in Manhattan and throughout the US. Her films have screened at the Asian Cinevision Diversity Screening at the New York Times. Her poetry has taken her to stages such as TEDx CUNY, the US Institute for Peace, backyards, universities and rooftops nation wide, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and the Best of the Net Anthology. She is a member of the Justseeds Artists Co-operative and a teaching artist who has worked with previously incarcerated families, migrant and indigenous youth communities to speak their truth and transcend trauma with art. She holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and is a recipient of a grant from The Canada Council For The Arts. She recently wrote and provided creative direction for Migration Is Natural, a short animation with Adobe Project 1324, about her experience of creating home in her art after the hardships of her family's migration.

Through film, mural-making, poetry and youth art education, she is working toward a future where migrant and indigenous youth of color see themselves whole and heroic, on the big screen and the city walls & then grow up to create their own.

“Jess X. Chen leaves us with much work to do but also with a spirit at once fierce and tender, and undefeatable, the optimism of finitude, and the comfort of the stardust that we will someday become.” — Chad Shomura, Political Theorist