MAKING INDIGENOUS SPACES IN AND OUT OF CLASS

When the Syracuse students arrive, Hodson hopes their professors will reach out to her so she can suggest ways to better incorporate Indigenous voices, culture and knowledge into their classes.

However, Hodson’s work goes well beyond one exchange program. She already works extensively with willing instructors across the university to improve the representation of Indigenous people in curricula. She sometimes makes knowledge-related suggestions, such as readings or guest speakers, and/or process-related suggestions, such as allowing students to incorporate lived experience into assignments.

Hodson says there is room to make space for Indigenous people and ways of knowing without sacrificing academic rigour, regardless the field of study. “Indigenous students go to school to help our people in ways that we can, so whether that’s through physics, social work or music, there’s a place for their culture within that study,” says Hodson.

Laurier offers a variety of Indigenous Initiatives and Services on the Brantford and Waterloo campuses, including academic and personal counselling, visiting elders, Indigenous peer mentors, community gardens, and access to smudging and traditional medicines. Syracuse also has resources and services in place to help support Indigenous students.

Indigenous students from any faculty interested in applying for the exchange program should contact Kevin Spooner at kspooner@wlu.ca or Lucy Luccisano at lluccisano@wlu.ca for more information.

Colours/Couleurs primaires by artists and others who work in the Canadian art system.

Chris Creighton-Kelly, co-director of Primary Colours/Couleurs primaires, said, “We are genuinely delighted to offer this award to Jade - an artist who is just beginning to be recognized for her important contributions, both as an artist and as a curator.”

Carpenter is very active in Calgary’s art scene. She is a core member of Ociciwan Contemporary Art Collective and sits on the board of directors for Stride Gallery. She holds a diploma in Fine Art from Grant MacEwan University and earned a Bachelor in Fine Arts from the Alberta College of Art and Design in 2016. In 2017, she was awarded the Alberta Foundation for the Arts Young Artist Prize and was featured in the Summer 2017 issue of Inuit Art Quarterly.

In autumn 2018 Carpenter will be part of the curatorial team for the Winnipeg Art Gallery’s new Inuit Art Centre. She will begin administrating and curating in preparation for the centre’s opening in 2020.

Carpenter uses art and humour as a coping mechanism to subtly address cultural displacement and to openly address mental illness; the lighthearted nature of her practice extends gestures of empathy and solidarity. These interests invite a reconsideration of the perceptions of contemporary Indigeneity and counter the stigmatism surrounding mental health.

“Jade is an outstanding figure among a new generation of talented and prolific Indigenous artists. Both in her visual art practice and her writing, Jade exhibits critical insight combined with an inspired wit,” said France Trépanier, co-director of Primary Colours/Couleurs primaires.

Primary Colours/Couleurs primaires (PC/Cp) is a national, bilingual, intergenerational 3-year initiative designed to place Indigenous arts at the center of the Canadian art system. PC/Cp also asserts that art practices by people of colour play a critical role in imagining Canada’s future(s). In September 2017, PC/Cp hosted a gathering on Lekwungen territory near Victoria, BC. This initiative is co-directed by Chris Creighton-Kelly and France Trépanier.

For more information visit primary-colours.ca.