Guest Speaker n̓aasʔałuk 
Indigenous Culture in Practice

Aboriginal Gathering Place Speaker Series
We are very pleased to present na̓ asʔałuk (John Rampanen)!

Please join us online
Thursday, February 3rd from 11:30am-12:30pm 
 via Zoom Webinar

Artist Bio
 n̓aasʔałuk (John Rampanen) comes from ʕaḥuusʔatḥ (Ahousaht) and qiłcmaʔatḥ (Keltsmaht) ancestry within the nuučaan̓ uł (Nuu-chah-nulth) territory on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. He is a Cultural Consultant, Historian and, Decolonial Strategist that is actively involved with Language & Cultural Revitalization specializing in areas of: spirituality, medicinal practice and plants, history, traditional governance and indigenous foods. n̓ aasʔałuk is also an Independent Instructor with the University of Victoria where he develops and offers land-based approaches to language immersion through a nuučaan̓ uł lens. A former founding member of the West Coast Warrior Society, he is also an advocate and activist with a firm stance on Indigenous sovereignty. As a father of eight, he shares a family-oriented approach toward cultural revitalization and believes firmly that language and connecting with land is the key to the future wellbeing for indigenous peoples. 

Artist Talk with
Lauren Crazybull

Aboriginal Gathering Place Speaker Series
We are very pleased to present artist Lauren Crazybull

Please join us at the Aboriginal Gathering Place on
Thursday, January 27th from 11:30am-12:30pm 
or
online via Zoom Webinar
Webinar ID: 646 6431 5880 and the Webinar Passcode: 575635

Artist Bio
Lauren is a Niitsitapi, Dene visual artist. Lauren’s practice focuses on painted portraiture, experimental mapmaking and immersive installation. Her background includes working with youth, radio programming and illustration. The purpose of the work she has done thus far has been to examine the function of colonialism in portraiture and other histories that aren’t always truthful representations of Indigenous existence. As such, Lauren’s portraits describe Indigenous people as they appear to her. Through her work she celebrates nuanced experiences, and seeks a sincere understanding of the many facets of Indigenous life.

https://www.laurencrazybull.com/

Guná Jensen Artist Talk

Aboriginal Gathering Place Speaker Series
We are very pleased to present artist Guná Jensen!

Please join us at the Aboriginal Gathering Place on
Wednesday, October 27th at 11:30am-12:30pm 
or online via zoom:
https://emilycarru.zoom.us/j/67732716315?pwd=NThlL2xlNXhMaExVSGNnbGV1R3R0UT09
Webinar ID: 677 3271 6315
Passcode: 811013

Artist Bio
Guná is a young Tlingit artist, dancer, Lingít language learner and student of Northwest Coast design. Guná, is of Dakhká Tlingit and Tagish Khwáan Ancestry from the Dahk’laweidi Clan (killer whale) which falls under the wolf/eagle moiety. Her family has made the beautiful southern lakes area of the Yukon their home for numerous generations. 
Guná’s love for Northwest Coast design began 10 years ago and she continues to build on her knowledge of Tlingit Formline. 
Her practice is dedicated to preserving and understanding a highly esteemed art form and acknowledges she will never stop learning and growing as a Tlingit artist. Guná recently graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Emily Carr University of Art and Design with a major in Visual Arts.

https://www.travelyukon.com/en/discover/yukon-story/how-raven-brought-light-to-the-world

asinnajaq (Inukjuak) Three Thousand (still) (2017) Credit: National Film Board of Canada

asinnajaq Artist Talk 

Aboriginal Gathering Place Speaker Series
We are excited to present filmmaker and artist asinnajaq!

Please join us virtually
Wednesday, October 20th from 11:30am-12:30pm

 Asinnajaq is the daughter of Carol Rowan and Jobie Weetaluktuk. She is an urban Inuk from Inukjuak, Nunavik and lives in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal). Asinnajaq’s art practice spans many mediums from film to performance video, to curation and much in between. She co-created Tilliraniit, a three day festival celebrating Inuit art and artists. Asinnajaq wrote and directed Three Thousand (2017) a short sci-fi documentary. She co-curated Isuma’s presence in the ‘Canadian’ pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale. She was long listed for the 2020 Sobey Art Award. She co-curated the inaugural exhibition INUA at the Qaumajuq. Her installation “cradling river piece” is currently on view at the Plug-in ICA in When Veins Meet Like Rivers.

Ts̱ēmā Igharas Artist Talk

Aboriginal Gathering Place Speaker Series
We are excited to present interdisciplinary artist Tsēmā Igharas!

Please join us at the Aboriginal Gathering Place on
Thursday, September 23 from 11:30-12:30pm 
or 
virtually via Zoom:
https://emilycarru.zoom.us/j/
68198714709? pwd=UlZ0d2JPWnBjeno4RX
VyT2FHRjFnZz09
Meeting ID: 681 9871 4709 Passcode: 622770 

Tsēmā is an interdisciplinary artist and member of the Tahltan Nation. She uses Potlatch methodology to create conceptual artwork and teachings influenced by her mentorship in Northwest Coast Formline Design at K’saan (2005/06), her studies in visual culture, and time in the mountains. She has a Bachelor’s degree from Emily Carr University of Art and Design (2011) and graduated from the Interdisciplinary Master’s in Art, Media and Design program at OCADu showing her thesis work, LAND|MINE that connects materials to mine sites and bodies to the land. Tsēmā has won the 2018 Emily Award for outstanding ECUAD alumni; is 1/25 2020 Sobey award winners; has shown and performed in various places in Canada and internationally in Sweden, Mexico, USA and Chile.

Artist Statement

My artistic work grapples with the body, my body as it has witnessed material and metaphysical landscapes changing and continually impacted, shaken and consumed by corporate resource extraction. What is important to me in making and presenting my work is to engage with and critique how the value of land and natural resources are created and assessed through Western measures of wealth (social, economic, environmental, power, ownership) and how these types of evaluations impact cultural lifeways in the Canadian wilderness, which is still considered an untapped frontier for natural resources. My praxis is sparked by strategies of Indigenous resistance to neo-colonization, embodied knowledge and everyday acts of decolonization as ways to understand the imaginary Canadian “true North” and industrial reverberations felt by those who live downstream.

https://www.tsema.ca/