Free of charge
About the event
Form, medium, genre, border. These artists have asked: if we are to be decolonial on the land in recognition of Indigenous sovereignty, how do we enact those processes in our artistry? If borders, territories and provinces are superficial boundaries drawn by settler colonialism, is this also true of our boundaries around form and medium? Where does story exist within this conflux? And how do we recognize it as sovereign?
For this event, each artist will respond to these questions through story, in the stylistic practice of ekphrasis, to emphasize how Indigenous storytelling practices transcend borders and boundaries.
About the authors
Joshua Whitehead is an Oji-Cree, Two-Spirit member of Peguis First Nation (Treaty 1). He is the author of full-metal indigiqueer; Jonny Appleseed; Making Love with the Land; and Indigiqueerness: A Conversation About Storytelling, as well as the editor of Love after the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction. Currently, Whitehead is an Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary, where he holds a Research Excellence Chair in the departments of English Literature and International Indigenous Studies.
Diane Obomsawin, aka Obom, is a cartoonist and animated filmmaker based in Montreal. Her graphic novels are published in English by Drawn & Quarterly, and in French by poetry publisher L'Oie de Cravan. She has made several animated films as an independent filmmaker, and seven auteur films in collaboration with the National Film Board of Canada. Over the years, Obomsawin has developed her own unique narrative style, combining humour, humanity, and gravitas, while frequently incorporating autobiographical elements. Since 2012, she has also turned her focus to installation art, which allows her to anchor her myths and dreamlike visions in time and space in a whole new way.
Katsitsanoron (Kat) Dumoulin-Bush is an Onkwehonwe/French Canadian from Oshahrhè:’on (Châteauguay), Quebec, who is at once curator, artist, writer, and cultural mediator. They have worked as a teacher in a number of Indigenous communities across Quebec; in radio as a DJ, host, and journalist; and as a curator and cultural mediator throughout Greater Montreal. Katsitsanoron considers themself “non-disciplinary,” combining various mediums to create works that explore questions about racial, sexual, and interpersonal identity. They are currently an intern in Indigenous art and design practices at the MMFA, an educational assistant and cultural mediator at MOMENTA, and a board member of the Indigenous Peoples Arts and Cultures Collective (IPACC).
Tenille K. Campbell is a Dene/Métis artist from English River First Nation, Saskatchewan. She completed her MFA in Creative Writing at UBC and holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Saskatchewan. Her poetry collections, #IndianLovePoems (Signature Editions, 2017) and Nedi Nezu (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2021), focus on Indigenous Erotica, using humour, storytelling, and sensuality to reclaim and explore ideas of Indigenous sexuality. She is the artist behind sweetmoon photography, specializing in capturing Indigenous stories throughout Canada. She currently resides in Saskatoon.
Jordan Abel is a queer Nisga'a writer from Vancouver. He is the author of The Place of Scraps (winner of the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize), Un/inhabited, and Injun (winner of the Griffin Poetry Prize). Abel’s memoir NISHGA won both the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize and the VMI Betsy Warland Between Genres award, and was a finalist for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction, the Wilfrid Eggleston Award for Nonfiction, and the Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize. Abel’s latest work—a novel titled Empty Spaces—was published by McClelland & Stewart and Yale University Press, and was the winner of the Governor General’s Award for Fiction, as well as the winner of a Banff Mountain Book Award. Abel completed a Ph.D. at Simon Fraser University in 2019, and is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of English and Film Studies at the University of Alberta, where he teaches Indigenous Literatures, Research-Creation, and Creative Writing.
About the series
As part of Art in Words series, the MMFA invites local writers to perform an original text inspired by its collections or exhibitions.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Reservation terms: Free admission. No reservation required.
Location: Maxwell Cummings Auditorium, 1379-A Sherbrooke Street West
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND PARTNERSHIPS
Major Patrons of learning and community engagement
Fondation de la Chenelière and Fondation Ariane Riou et Réal Plourde
Major Patron
D. R. Sobey Foundation
Patron
Terra Foundation for American Art
Patron of learning and community engagement
The Molson Foundation
Collaborating Partners
Mirabaud and Tourisme Montréal
With support from
MUBI, Warwick Le Crystal – Montréal and Polysleep Signature
Public partners
Canada Council for the Arts, Conseil des arts de Montréal, and Gouvernement du Québec
Official Sponsors
Air Canada, Air Canada Cargo and Denalt Paints
Media Partners
Bell and La Presse
