Fri 05 Jun 2020
5 Indigenous Artists to Follow
Posted by Guest.Author
We invited Jordie Luggi, who is the Education Specialist at Bill Reid Gallery in Vancouver and a recipient of the 2020 YVR Art Foundation Scholarship for Emerging Artists to recommend indigenous artists whose work addresses conflict in some way. Each of these Indigenous artists express themselves through different styles and mediums, and each artist shares a passion for Indigenous sovereignty.
Cease Wyss
Skwxwú7mesh/Stó:lō/Metis/Hawaiian/Swiss
(left to right: senaqwila and cease at britannia craft fair and A Constellation of Remediation Drone Shot)
Cease Wyss is an interdisciplinary artist, ethnobotanist, educator, activist, and storyteller. Her training in ethnobotany stems directly from Indigenous Elders and Cease uses storytelling to pass on knowledge of these cultural teachings. Cease has worked on everything from public art projects, land restoration, and community building. You can follow Cease on IG (@cedarcopperwoman).
Sierra Tasi Baker
Sḵwx̱wú7mesh/Musqueam/Kwakwaka’wakw/Tɫingit/Haida/Hungarian
(left to right: Instagram Post and Waters Rising Mural)
Sierra is a dancer, choreographer, and cultural and Indigenous design consultant at Sky Spirit Consulting. In her consulting work, Sierra focuses on furthering Indigenous design and research through oral history, archival research, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, and Coast Salish design techniques. Sierra is a choreographer for Butterflies in Spirit, a dance and advocacy group for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, founded by Lorelei Williams. You can follow Sierra on IG (@sierratasibaker). See her work at skyspiritconsulting.ca
Whess Harman
Carrier Wit’at
Whess has a multidisciplinary practice that includes beading, illustration, poetry, and curation. They use their practice as a way of interpreting questions of identity and relation, both between Indigenous nations and the settler colonial state. Whess is a curatorial intern at the grunt gallery in Vancouver and is active in organizing and participating in actions that challenge the settler colonial state. You can follow them on IG (@ghost_suit).
Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun
Coast Salish/Okanagan
Lawrence expands on the Western landscape painting tradition while utilizing elements of Northwest Coast formline design. His works are critical, colourful, humorous, and often controversial pieces that reflect on issues in this current settler-colonial state known as Canada – Indigenous land rights and environmental destruction to name a few. You can follow Lawrence on FB and on IG (@yuxweluptun).
Ronnie Dean Harris aka Ostwelve
Stō:lo/St’át'imc/Nlaka'pamux
(left to right: Website Homepage Featured Image, Oiloctopus-01, and Salmon Arrows Mural @ UFCW 5158)
Ronnie is an actor, graphic designer, composer, poet, performer, organizer, and radio & podcast host. Ronnie is currently the program director of Reframing Relations, a program that facilities discussion around the concept of reconciliation for Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth in schools and communities. Follow Ronnie on IG (@ronniedeanharris and @ostwelveproductions) and on Facebook.
About the Author
Jordie Luggi is Dakelh from her father’s side and Wetsuwet’en on her mother’s side, and is a member of the Frog clan through her mother. Her family home is in the community of Stellako, located in British Columbia’s northern interior. Jordie moved to Vancouver in 2010 to attend post-secondary and graduated from Emily Carr University of Art + Design in 2014. Throughout the years, she has worked in indigenous communities with youth in various capacities, and is happy to bring both her professional and personal experiences to the education programs at the Bill Reid Gallery.
