Each year we deepen our collective roots and entangle with new relations. You are invited to a gathering of Indigenous artists; bold storytellers whose strength comes from their relationship to the land and culture. Despite the on-going gentrification of East Van, Urban Indigenous artists remind us colonial law is a fallacy on stolen land.
In partnership with Havana
Featuring
Keenan Marchand, jaz whitford, Lil Smudge and Prado Monroe
MC
Justin Ducharme
6:00 PM | Opening Welcome with Senaqwila Wyss
6:10 PM | Su Comandante – Migration: Return to the Source
This piece will interrogate what we are taught and how, and the ways in which music provides an alternative method of learning that can be more liberatory than those that dominate mainstream educational institutions. Mixing music and sound samples, Raul will share his story of how music became not only his way of surviving and expressing himself, but also his greatest teacher and a vehicle through which he now is able to share history, culture and empowerment with others.
6:35 PM | Redsun
7:10 PM | Iktome – The ocean holds me
A few songs that represent my yearning to be near water.
7:30 PM | Makeda Martin & Family
7:55 PM | Trickster Agenda
A collection of several acoustic songs that reflect on Marchand’s relationship with their homeland of the Okanagan and their complex feelings of longing, estrangement, fear and hope with it.
8:20 PM | Poyenten - Stay here with me
Singing traditional song that were passed down. Performing an original Rock music.
8:40 PM | Lil Smudge
Smudge is a 2-spirited Indigenous femmecee from both Kawacatoose First Nation of Treaty 4, and the Vuntut G’witchin nation. They grew up in the streets of the DTES estranged from their family for a number of years during their youth, and their music represents the journey to the person they’ve become today. From navigating a relationship with addiction, to living and loving with PTSD.. They have been repairing their relationship with self to heal their family and break curses with force... Smudge works to bring strong medicine in their art with every honest word, and struggle. Their music is produced authentically, and independently, with their friends from the East Van community and themselves, being solely responsible for the sounds they are about to share with us.
9:05 PM | Jody Okabe with Desirée Dawson
Ama sah, Jody di whyuu, Kitsumkalum di wil whatguu. My name is Jody Okabe and I am a Two Spirit Indigiqueer of Ts’msyen, Japanese and French ancestry and a member of Kitsumkalum. My family belongs to W’aap Koom, (The House of Raven) Ganhada Clan, and my people are from the sea. I grew up in Ts’msyen, Tse’Khene, and Lheidli T’enneh territory and am an uninvited guest here on the stolen, unceded and occupied homelands of the Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Watuth) First Nations. I am a musician, facilitator, community outreach worker, and da’as biip (auntie/uncle).
Dii= łoomsk, sagayt= k’üülm g'oot.
Desirée Dawson is a multi-talented artist, celebrated for her remarkable gifts as a recording artist, songwriter, producer, and sound healing facilitator. Her main instrument is her powerful yet soothing voice although she is best known for accompanying her voice with her Baritone Ukulele. She can be found playing solo, as a duo or a full band. Her music has elements of folk, americana, alt-country, pop, soul and more but it's most often just referred to as a singer-songwriter.
Chantelle Trainor-Matties
Chantelle Trainor-Matties is an artist from British Columbia, Canada with Nisga’a and Métis heritage that specializes in illustration, graphic design, painting as well as mural work. She works for herself and does freelance work for private and commercial clientele through her small business Frettchan Studios. Her work ranges from bold contemporary Northwest coast formline to charming cartoons to painterly realism.
Hazel Arnold
Hazel Arnold is a Cree painter focusing in Native visual art. Hazel grew up in Ontario and Regina, Saskatchewan and spent most of her summers on Gordon’s Reserve in Saskatchewan where her passion for art was sparked by Sanford Fisher, an amputee who painted with his mouth. After taking a break from paitning for over 40 years, she returned to creating art in 2024 and received the Downtown Eastside Small Arts Grant. She wants to expand her education in fine arts by exploring other mediums and learning different techniques from other artists and would eventually like to present her work in other galleries in the future.
Rylee Taje
Rylee Taje (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist currently studying and working at Emily Carr University of Art + Design on the lands that are stewarded and loved by the the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. She is working to obtain her bachelor’s in Critical + Cultural Practices with a minor in Curatorial Studies. Rylee grew up in amiskwaciwâskahikan on Treaty 6 territory, and is a member of Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation through her maternal line.
Soleilla Denomme
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