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The digital culmination of the Kindred Spirits digital artist residency run by and for 2Spirit and Indigiqueer artists. Guided by Faculty members Dayna Danger, DJ O Show, Raven Davis and Art Auntie Shane Sable, this digital exhibition focuses on re-storying 2Spirit identities and futures through community connection and self-portraiture beyond colonial constructs.
Artists
Babe Waters
Babe Waters is a queer, fat, femme artist hailing from Canada. Based between Toronto and Melbourne in Australia.
Her work covers a broad spectrum of topics all on the line of being too much of one thing and not enough of something else, as well as making spaces for marginalized people in otherwise rigid and old-fashioned industries. Focused mainly in the realms of drag, queer performance art, film and curation, she’s constantly looking for new ways to touch on the complex intersectionality of their identities and representation.
Constantly travelling, and changing their stage name, Babe has performed across Canada, the US, Aotearoa and Australia, and been featured in many news outlets including Canadian Art Magazine, BuzzFeed, CBC Arts, NOW Toronto, ABC (Australia), Refinery29, Hazlitt, Toronto Star, Barrier Daily Truth, etc, as well as receiving an Emerging Artist Award from Buddies in Bad Times Theatre for 2020.
Holding an honours diploma in arts management, Babe has learned and developed a large portion of his practice via life experience, attending events and making connections and lots of private classes and workshops. It’s ever-evolving and based heavily on navigating the modern world while exploring culture, community, prejudices and a very dark yet optimistic sense of humour.
She has been described as fiercely feminist and fabulously f***ked up, utterly revolting, glamorous with a dash of disgusting, icon, legend, star, large and in charge and a unique treat that can’t be found elsewhere.
Jules Bee
Jules Bee is of Métis and German descent. They are a queer multi medium artist from so called ‘British Columbia.’ They currently reside on the traditional territory of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in in the Yukon. Having spent a handful of winters in Dawson City, they have been exploring new creative forms including wildcrafting, sculpture and the art of tease!
Jules stands below a willow weaved arch, beside the Klondike River. They are wearing textile and clay sculpture of their own design. They are wearing a sleeveless shirt that has been dyed dark purple / blue / black and green. There is a faint batik design of hanging herbs on their chest.
This shirt was made from recycled material. A batik and dye process was used to acquire the colour and design. The design of hanging herbs was painted on with melted wax. Once dry, it was dipped in 2 different dye baths. The wax acts as a resist to the dye, leaving behind the design. The wax is then ironed away once the shirt is dry. The process itself resembles a feeling of resilience, that the artist feels when using the sacred medicine illustrated.
The ceramic chain link was hand sculpted, fired, glazed and fired again. They tied the chains together with leather.
The ceramic medallion earrings were sculpted, carved, painted, fired, glazed and fired again. They are attached to gold hoops with wire. Each has a medallion. One with ‘LAND’ carved into it and the other reads ‘BACK’.
Edzi’u
Edzi’u is a 2S Tahltan and inland Tlingit sound, performance and media artist. Edzi’us debut album, Kime Ani, was nominated for best electronic music album at the Indigenous Music Awards 2019. Their art practice centres on weaving electronic soundscapes with audio manipulation, while drawing on classical songwriting elements. Their music and sound installations have been featured on CBC Radio Reclaimed, Talking Stick festival, shown in Tkaronto’s film festival imagineNATIVE 2018 as well as 2019, while debuting internationally in 2019 at the Document Film Festival in Glasgow, Scotland.
Rain Cabana-Boucher
Rain Cabana-Boucher is a Métis/British settler interdisciplinary artist raised in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, treaty 6 territory. She is currently living and working on the stolen land of the Songhees, Esquimalt, and W̱SÁNEĆ First Nations.
Made through the support of First Peoples’ Cultural Council.
Rain Neeposh
Rain Neeposh is a Cree, two spirit artist. His family is from the Eeyou Istchee, though he was born and raised in the northern interior of BC, where he is a member of T’exelcemc. He spends his time beading, painting, and advocating for the environment. Water is life!
Sheri Osden Nault
Sheri Osden Nault is a Michif, Nehiyaw, and mixed-European visual artist, community activist, and educator. They work across mediums including sculpture, beadwork, basket weaving, Indigenous tattoo revival, performance, photography, and video. Their practice is shaped by tactile ways of learning and sharing knowledges, while grounded in mixed-Indigenous and Queer life experiences and a commitment to social and ecological justice. As Indigenous futurism, their work builds towards and acknowledges a future rich in kinship sensibilities, Two-Spirit wisdom, traditional and contemporary Indigenous art, and intersectional commitments of care and responsibility that extend beyond these communities too. Aesthetically, they often explore chimeric ways of being, incorporating human and non-human bodily references, mold making, gathered earth materials, and traditional creative practices. Thoughtful community engagement and continually prioritizing accessibility are integral to each new project within their art practice.
Notable upcoming exhibitions and projects include A Hard Birth at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in 2022; Hononga at Hoea! Gallery in Aotearoa (New Zealand) in late 2021; an upcoming workshop with the Canadian Roots Exchange to teach pine needle basket weaving to Two-Spirit youth, and a recent workshop with Two-Spirited People of the First Nations, Toronto, to teach growing tobacco medicine from seed as part of the organization’s Family Pride programming. Past notable exhibitions include Where the Shoreline Meets the Water curated by Syrus Marcus Ware at the ArQuives, Toronto (2020); Off-Centre at the Dunlop Art Gallery in Regina (2019); Fix Your Hearts or Die at the Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton (2019); and Li Salay at the Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton (2018).
Terry Collins
Terry Collins is a 2spirit cherokee-cajun artist who is self-taught in many mediums. This piece represents a reflection of the spiritual self and the wisdom this form holds.
Ames
Beau Ryder is a queer Dene, tender and rough, working to fuck some shit up and ground some feelings.
Visit site
Zachery C. Longboy
Zachery Longboy is a multidisciplinary artist born in Churchill, Manitoba, of Sayisi Dene lineage. His work has been shown at the National Gallery of Canada; the Glenbow Museum; the Edmonton Art Gallery; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.