Tag Archives: digital art

Media Arts Justice Toolkit to Support Youth (M3P2)

In this resource — part article, part toolkit — Lindquist provides four case studies of different media arts activities to support youth with engaging with local and global issues. The youth involved are nehiyaw (Cree), from Frog Lake First Nation (in Northern Alberta). The four activities are grounded in both project- and place-based pedagogy. “Through various forms of multimedia and arts programming, such as photography, social media, video, music, and dance, students not only push back on stereotypes, but also create shared imaginings for the way they want to live” (p. 109). Each activity comes with instructions and background information. There is a strong presence of Indigenous Feminisms, and the project was supported by Native Youth Sexual Health Network.

The four activities in this toolkit are:

  1. #Self(ie) Determination Photo Booth
  2. Âniskômohcikewin ~ Connect It!
  3. Kîya Cultural Hero // You Are The Cultural Hero
  4. The Hunger Brains
Using media arts justice to re-story history. Artist: Kirsten Lindquist and HeinsburgCommunity School (HCS) media students

Using media arts justice to re-story history. Artist: Kirsten Lindquist and HeinsburgCommunity School (HCS) media students

 

This is a powerful resource for supporting youth in taking their media artworks beyond the aesthetic, telling their own stories, and self-derterminging their own minds and bodies.

 

Reference:

Lindquist, K. (2018). A Digital Snapshot – A Media Arts Justice Toolkit Approach to Support Indigenous Self-Determining Youth. Canadian Journal of Family and Youth / Le Journal Canadien De Famille Et De La Jeunesse, 10(2), 105–132. https://doi.org/10.29173/cjfy29391

Aabijijiwan Media Lab (M2P2)

The new Aabijijiwan Media Lab is the first of its kind in Canada. Part of Winnipeg University, this space is a hub for new and established artists, housing four specialized labs as well as a collaborative studio space. These labs support community members through a range of digital maker equipment, from 3D printers and laser cutters to audio recording equipment and VR programming. The collaborative studio also serves as a space for intergenerational gatherings and working with physical-plane artforms, such as sewing, caribou hide tufting, and beading. They also run many online workshops, such as the one shown below, in both digital and traditional artforms. While these workshops are recorded, at the time of this post they do not appear to be accessible after the event has ended.

workshop with Aabijijiwan Media Lab

From CBC Indigenous:

Aabijijiwan’s first artist in residence is Scott Benesiinaabandan from Lac Seul First Nation in northern Ontario, who specializes in photography and is now focusing on augmented reality and virtual reality work.

“There’s going to be a lot of young artists with their first introduction to these sort of advanced technologies… It gives you that access, portability to technologies that we wouldn’t have otherwise and I think it’s going to be a very generative and fertile sort of place to burst new artists and new artistic ideas,” said Benesiinaabandan.

 

References:

Monkman, L. (2021, March 28). New Indigenous media lab at University of Winnipeg to help creators combine art and technology. CBC Indigenous. https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/aabijijiwan-media-lab-winnipeg-1.5966433