Elder Marsha’s name is Teyuhuhtakweku. She is from the Oneida Nation and a member of the Turtle clan. She is Deaf, a wife, a mother, a grandma and a great grandmother. Her husband, Max Ireland, is hearing and a member of the Bear clan. She has five Oneida children and fourteen grandchildren that includes one great granddaughter. She developed Oneida sign language. She travelled to provide land acknowledgment in her language. She considers herself an advocate, educator and some people call her their elder.
Sean Lee is an artist and curator exploring the assertion of disability art as the last avant-garde. His methodology explores crip curatorial practices as a means to resist traditional aesthetic idealities. Orienting towards a “crip horizon”, Sean’s practice explores the transformative possibilities of accessibility as an embodied politic and disability community building as a way to desire the ways disability can disrupt.
Sean holds a B.A. in Arts Management and Studio from the University of Toronto, Scarborough and is currently the Director of Programming at Tangled Art + Disability. Previous to this role, he was Tangled’s inaugural Curator in Residence (2016). Sean has been integral to countless exhibitions and public engagements throughout his tenure at Tangled Art + Disability.
In addition to his role at Tangled, Sean is an independent lecturer, speaker, and writer adding his insights and perspectives to conversations surrounding Disability Arts across Canada, the United States and internationally. He has taught “Accessibility in Curating: A Framework” at NODE Curatorial Studies Online and the Hidden Project with Goethe-Institut Shanghai. Sean currently sits on the board of Toronto Arts Council and CARFAC Ontario, and is a member of the Ontario Art Council’s Deaf and Disability Advisory Group and Chair of the Toronto Art Council’s Visual Arts / Media Arts Committee.
Photo by Michelle Peek Photography and courtesy of Bodies in Translation: Activist Art, Technology & Access to Life, Re•Vision: The Centre for Art & Social Justice at the University of Guelph.
Juan Jaramillo formerly worked with the Ontario Advocate’s Office for Children & Youth, providing consultation within the Provincial Schools for the Deaf and Blind/deaf for 9 years. His family were refugees from Colombia before he moved to Canada at a very young age. He was born deaf but that didn’t stop him from loving loud music. He was surrounded by Colombia’s musical, Latin and salsa culture. He co-founded Dancing Hands, a group that has performed over 22 years across North America. He has many hats, an ASL song Interpretation and Performance artist, a
short film director, an actor, and scriptwriter. He also consults in those roles to support more access to ASL. Juan’s versatility and artistic expression has seen him share the stage with many different artists, he loves to put on a great show that is accessible and inclusive for all performers and audiences.
Matthew Monias aka Mattmac is a blind music producer and recording artist from Garden Hill First Nation, Manitoba who has harnessed his melodic pop-trap beats and inspiring story, quickly establishing himself as ‘one to watch’ on the national scene with more than 700,000+ streams across platforms, and critical acclaim across CBC, CTV, Virgin Radio, and more. He grew up surrounded by music both on the radio and singing in his community’s gospel choir. Matthew began to struggle with depression at a young age and credits music for helping him cope. A fully self-taught artist, he first began to make beats and write songs when he was 13 years old, and later taught himself how to play piano and guitar. He also has impressive skills with beat production software and equipment, and attributes his creative competencies to the support of the Blind & Famous group, a USA based collective of blind music artists who collaborate and connect with one another through the internet. He is currently promoting his sophomore album titled, “Blurred Visions” – available now!
Shayla-Rae Tanner is a 24 year old Cree from Cowessess First Nation and hard of hearing. She uses American Sign Language to communicate and is very proud of who she is. She graduated Grade 12 from Thom Collegiate and is in her second-year of university at the First Nation University of Canada. She was introduced to drama and was a part of Deaf Crow & Apple Time plays. She has been involved with Deaf Crow Collective since June 2016. She loves drawing all kinds of art and she likes socializing with her Deaf/ Hard of hearing friends. She enjoys reading, watching pow-wows and spending time with family. Her family is hearing and she is the only one who is hard of hearing and uses full ASL.
George, AKA DJ GQ or down on social media as GQSoundz is a blind Afro Canadian DJ who enjoys the art of mixing. GQ is a versatile DJ with a large influence of Hip Hop, RnB, Reggae, Dancehall, soca and Afrobeats. Even without sight, GQ’s main goal on the decks is to get party goers moving on the Dance floor.
Danielle Printup is a Hodinohso:ni / Anishnaabe arts administrator and curator from Kitigan Zibi Anishnabeg, QC, with maternal roots in Ohsweken, ON. She has Bachelor of Honors in Art History from the University of Guelph (2012) and later interned at the National Gallery of Canada before completing the RBC Indigenous Training Program in Museum Practices at the Canadian Museum of History. She has worked at Galerie SAW Gallery, the Indigenous Art Centre and the City of Ottawa’s Public Art Program. She currently works as the Indigenous Cultural Engagement Coordinator at Carleton University Art Gallery. Most recently, Printup curated the group exhibition Future Rivers: Film and Video from the Desert River, which was presented during the summer of 2021 at the Carleton University Art Gallery.
Jessica Kotierk is Manager/Curator of the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum in Iqaluit, Canada. She is focused on the care of Inuit artefacts in museum collections. Jessica supports the promotion and preservation of Inuit art, and archives. She is on the Board of the Archives Council of Nunavut, Alianait Arts Festival, Indigenous Heritage Circle, Nunavut Film and Development Corporation, and also participates in the Leadership Group of the Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership: Pilimmaksarniq/Pijariuqsarniq SSHRC Partnership Grant, which is working to foster more Inuit within the arts and culture roles.
Isabelle Uyaralaaq Avingaq Choquette graduated from the Museum Studies Program at Collège Montmorency in Laval, QC. Born and raised in Terrebonne, her mother’s family is from Igloolik, NU and her father is French Canadian. Isabelle currently lives in Montreal where she works in the museology department of the Avataq Cultural Institute, taking care of the Nunavik Inuit Art Collection. Isabelle helped to organize the exhibition of works from Avataq’s collection at KWE! Meet with Indigenous Peoples in 2019. Isabelle’s interests include Inuit art and collections, the repatriation of Inuit collections to the North, and continuing to learn about Inuit cultures from the Circumpolar North. Shehopes to one day move back to Nunavut with her family.
Teresa Vander Meer-Chassé is a proud Niisüü member of White River First Nation (Beaver Creek, Yukon and Alaska). She is an Upper Tanana, Frisian, and Acadian French visual artist, emerging curator, and Master of Fine Arts student at Concordia University in Studio Arts. Her visual arts practice is invested in the awakening of sleeping materials and the (re)animation of found objects that speak to her identity. Her curatorial practice focuses on filling gaps and writing new narratives that highlight the importance of representation and visibility of northern Indigenous Peoples. She was the curator of We Are Our Language (2019), Emerging North (2020), co-curator for Elemental Transformations (2021) and TETHER (2022). Teresa currently sits on the board of the Indigenous Curatorial Collective/Collectif des commissaires autochtones.
Lisa Dewhurst is from southern British Columbia and is a member of the Nlaka’pamuk Nation of Merritt B.C. Her immediate roots are in the Interior Salish and Okanagan Nation but also has ancestry tied to Mexico through her Great-Great Grandfather, Jesus Garcia. Lisa, the youngest of 7, was raised in the countryside of Aspen Grove where her love for horses and the outdoors began at a young age. For the past 30+ years Lisa has lived in the small community of Teslin, Yukon. It was in the Yukon that Lisa met and married her husband Darcy, who was born and raised in Teslin. Together they have 2 children. With Darcy’s traditional Tlingit upbringing and Lisa’s sense of adventure, their children were raised on the land. Family outings to the trapline began at a young age for the children and continue today, as well as other traditional activities such as hunting, fishing and berry picking. Cultural events and practices such as potlatches and Clan obligations tie this family to important Tlingit roots. Lisa was adopted into the Kukhhittan Clan (Raven Children) and her Tlingit name is Keis.ey, which refers to the time just before the dawn breaks.
She has been a dedicated Manager and leader of 10 plus years for the Teslin Tlingit Heritage Centre and has excelled in public relations and coordination of events and programming.
Lisa has become a steward and leader in the cultural and tourism industry for her community and Yukon Territory. Through visioning, developing and implementing, she has become a part of establishing one of the leading cultural centers within the Yukon and has contributed to the new Yukon Tourism Strategy which was released in Nov. 2018.
Shirley Adamson is a member of the Tagish Nation and a citizen of the Tàän Kwáchän. A former negotiator and politician, she now creates art using the name Zhürá. She is a storyteller, teaches the Tagish language, and is a public speaker. She honours the history of her ancestors through the telling of traditional stories, revitalizing language, paintings, fabric creations, and free form sculptures. Shirley’s work has shown in several galleries, is held in many private collections as well as the Yukon Permanent Art Collection and the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre.
Melissa Shaginoff is part of the Udzisyu (caribou) and Cui Ui Ticutta (fish-eater) clans from Nay’dini’aa Na Kayax (Chickaloon Village, Alaska). She is an Ahtna and Paiute person, an artist, a curator, and an Auntie. Her work is shaped by the framework and intricacies of Indigenous ceremonies and social structures. Melissa centers conversation in her art practice, searching for deeper understanding through moments of exchange and reciprocity. She has completed residencies in Sweden, Italy, Canada, and Alaska. She is currently engaged in a year-long residency designed in collaboration with The Nave, a historic building and community space in Dgheyey Kaq’ (Anchorage). She has curated and juried art exhibitions with the Anchorage Museum, Alaska Pacific University, University Alaska Anchorage, the Coe Center, the International Folk Art Museum, and the Fairbanks Art Association. Melissa has been published in the Alaska Humanities FORUM Magazine, First American Art Magazine, Inuit Art Quarterly, and the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center’s Learning Lab. She is a founding member of Łuk’ae Tse’ Taas (fish head soup) Comics, a new media collective focusing on Indigenous co-authorship and representation in science-fiction narratives.
Dominique Ireland is from Oneida Nation of the Thames Settlement, a member of Turtle Clan. She has dedicated her life to her people, her language and her culture. She was involved with AIAI youth council and trained as a cultural youth worker from the learning centre. Dominique enjoys doing woodburning art, illustration and learning her language.
Jessie Ray Short is an artist, filmmaker and independent curator of Métis, Ukrainian and German descent. Jessie Ray’s practice involves uncovering connections between a myriad of topics that interest her, including, but not limited to, space and time, Indigenous and settler histories, Métis visual culture, personal narratives, spiritual and scientific belief systems, parallel universes, electricity, aliens and non-human being(s). Jessie Ray explores these topics using mediums such as film and video, performance art, finger weaving, sewing, writing and curating. She has been invited to show her work nationally and internationally, including at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre in Kingston, at La Chambre Blanche in Québec City, Art Mûr Berlin (a satellite exhibition of the Contemporary Native Art Biennial/BACA) in Germany, and at the Wairoa Maori Film Festival in New Zealand. Jessie Ray is deeply grateful to be based in oskana kâ-asastêki or Pile of Bones (also known as Regina) in Treaty 4 territory. Some of Jessie Ray’s Métis family lineages include Short, Piché, Desmarais, and Gosselin.
Stephanie Pangowish is a sassy, bad assy, yet classy Anishinaabekwe from Wiikwemkoong on Manitoulin Island. She is an active community member, stand up comedian, Northern Style Women’s Traditional dancer, educator, back up singer & an avid beader.
Stephanie obtained her western education at Trent University, taking Indigenous Studies where she barely passed. NDNs studying NDNs. She continues to learn from her children, family and community.
Janelle “ecoaborijanelle” Pewapsconias
(she/her) is a nehīyaw Spoken Word Poet
and Community Engaged Researcher and rez-based artist in her home community of Little Pine First Nation, Treaty 6 Territory.
As a strong, single mother, Janelle worked, studied at the University of Saskatchewan for
Indigenous Peoples Lands Management and Renewable Resource Management, as
well as, from the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies for Business
Administration. The educational journey has allowed Janelle to come full circle back to the land and healing, strengthening her commitment to speaking with young people and learners about anti-racism, equity, and social justice. She recognizes the nehiyaw cultural upbringing raised her with the practice of minding how to step in community.
As a Game Designer by experience, she harnessed her unique talent and educational
background, placing in four business plan and pitch competitions with her Indigneous art and board game projects “Neeched Up Games” and “Neechimoose Novelties”. Her talent for creating stories with poetry and games were included in “A Mile In Our
Moccasins”, a TEDx talk delivered in Calgary in 2017.
As a slam poet and storyteller, ecoaborijanelle has competed in three national poetry
slam competitions and had several of her poems in Canadian and American academic publications. She participated in the 2019 Saskatoon Poetic Arts Festival
Ensemble and 2020 ‘Indigenous Storytellers and Spoken Word’ Residency at the Banff Centre for Art and Creativity. ecoaborijanelle has worked in several province-wide
projects including publishing 2 produced lessons for grades 1-8 with LIVE Arts
Saskatchewan, a weeklong teen writing camp experiences with Sage Hill in 2019, 2020, and again 2022. Expanding her live performance practice, ecoaborijanelle created a spoken word vignette in The Trespassers Waltz in the Fall of 2020. Her more recent collaboration ‘Dandelion Roots’ was presented at the 2021 Nuit Blanche live, and has supported the development of curriculum on the topic of anti-gentrification.
ecoaborijanelle is a multidimensional Indigenous Artist continuing the storytelling customs in her spoken word, board games and creative anti-oppression projects.
Professional Janelle is an anti-racism practitioner and community-engaged research
coordinator.
As a reserve-based artist, she practices, organizes, and builds her spoken word practice that continues the oral tradition and celebrates narratives of Indigenous survivance and
strength*. She believes in ahkamemowin (“ahh-gkaa-mey-moo-win” 5 syllables) – meaning: having resilience and never giving up. Impassioned and determined, Janelle
“ecoaborijanelle” Pewapsconias brings the message: “your words are alive, your words matter, let us tell our stories with care”.
Audie Murray is a relative, dreamer, skin-stitcher and Michif visual artist based in Oskana kâ-asastêki (Regina, Saskatchewan; Treaty 4 territory). Much of her family and family histories are located in the Qu’Appelle and Meadow Lake regions of Saskatchewan, spanning both Treaty 4 & 6 territories. Murray holds a visual arts diploma from Camosun College, 2016; a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Regina, 2017; and a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Calgary, 2022.
Her practice is informed by the process of making and visiting to explore themes of contemporary culture, embodied experiences and lived dualities. These modes of working assist with the recentering of our collective connection to the body, ancestral knowledge systems, space and time. She has exhibited widely, including at the Independent Art Fair, NYC; The Vancouver Art Gallery; Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow; and the Anchorage Museum. Murray is represented by Fazakas Gallery, located on Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Səl̓ílwətaʔ, and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm territory (Vancouver, B.C.).
« Joseph Sarenhes is a versatile creator. On top of playing piano, guitar and drums, he’s also a singer, a rapper, a composer and a video creator. A singular talent and surprisingly gifted. He cites Michael Jackson, Ray Charles, Tory Lanez and many others as his biggest inspirations. Joseph’s identity has very strong cultural roots. Of Guinean, Indigenous (Huron-Wendat Nation) and Quebecois origin, he instinctively creates a mixture that is both homogeneous and refreshing between tradition and current trend, innovating. With the release of his first single “Sing You Something”, Joseph clearly demonstrates that he is a promising multidisciplinary creator. “Sarenhes” means “The highest peak in the forest” and is a symbol of strong leadership. Joseph hopes that his music will be a unifying medium that inspires and leaves a positive impact on the world. This kid really got something special among special people.. » Hourglass 11
Xavier Watso is Abenaki from Odanak and for more than 15 years, he teaches theatre with passion at Louis Riel High School in Montreal. He is also an Indigenous activist who is fighting for the rights of Indigenous People. Xavier is the founding member of a pow wow drum group, Flying Sturgeons, and he is the Ceremony Host during pow wow in Odanak and Wolinak. He also has a famous tiktok account with 35 000k followers, and he writes articles for Journal Metro de Montreal and Currium Magazine.