Joey Thall – Queer and Trans Black, Indigenous and People of Colour Vancouver

UnSettled – a Two-Spirit Art Exhibition that Disrupts Queer Hegemonies

In another work from Driskill, “Doubleweaving Two-Spirit Critiques: Building Alliances between Native and Queer Studies,” they ascribe one crucial aspect of Two-Spirit critiques as being “created and maintained through the activist and artistic resistance of Two-Spirit people” (Driskill, 2010, 81). Various forms of art that are referenced, such as poetry, dance, and visual art, represent how Two-Spirit critiques are realized and reach out to broader audiences. They exist as media to further demonstrate the material realities, histories and spiritualities that continue to be extinguished by the settler colonial status quo. More particularly, the use of visual art will be the locus of the following example of Two-Spirit artistic resistance.

The Vancouver Queer Arts Festival, which was recently held from June 17-29, included a curated Two-Spirit exhibition, named “UnSettled.” 18 artists participated and showcased their work in the exhibition. The head curator was Adrian Stimson, a visual artist from the Siksika Nation in Alberta. Stimson obtained a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Saskatchewan, and two of his paintings were recently given to the British Museum for its North American Indigenous collection. The purpose of the exhibition was exactly what Driskill mentioned—it provided a series of critiques that deal with the histories of colonialism, as well as alternative narratives to the LGBTQ mainstream. You can find the full curatorial statement on the event web page.

Most of the artists’ work was in the form of intersectional, vibrant, polychromatic paintings. In George Littlechild’s piece, Nanekawasis, he contends that sexuality should not be an experience with foundations of shame, but one that is rooted in humanity above all else. He elaborates in an interview that “Christianity has done such a number on us that there’s so much shame that gets placed on us, as human beings…especially as being a Two-Spirited person” (Dailyxtra, 2017). This gave Littlechild the impetus to paint a man who is completely naked—with the intention to “just bare it all” (Dailyxtra, 2017). In this case, “baring it all” entails providing an exposé of the grievances of growing up being shameful of Two-Spiritedness, and to reclaim sexuality from settler colonial dogma.

George Littlechild and his piece, “*Nanekawasis” (taken from the video file)*

Driskill additionally highlights that “…Two-Spirit critiques remain accountable to both academic and nonacademic audiences” (Driskill, 2010, 82). The academic aspect of this art is to incorporate theory and textured nuance to the experience of Two-Spirit individuals, as indicated within the topics of the art exhibition, such as gender policing via residential schools and settler colonial violence. The nonacademic aspect is the accessibility of this art to those who may not possess the vocabularies of academic language, as well as to translate theory into thought-provoking, interpretable, visual forms. These efforts uphold the role of broader organizing—to amalgamate knowledge, and thus power, to the community, with the long term goal of resistance and reclaiming decolonized ways of being.

Dailyxtra. (2017, June 23). How two-spirit artists unsettle the Vancouver Queer Arts Festival [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj180bgH4jg

Driskill, Q. (2010). Doubleweaving Two-Spirit Critiques: Building Alliances between Native and Queer Studies. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, 16(1-2), 69-92.

Dancing to Eagle Spirit Society – a Vital Alternative to Settler Colonial ‘LGBTQ’ Spaces

“Our Elders tell us of people who were gifted among all beings because they carried two spirits—that of male and female” (dancingtoeaglespiritsociety.org, 2008). Within the span of queer and trans theorizing, the perspectives of people of colour are often times sidelined. Yet, within queer and trans of colour theorizing itself, Indigenous folks also experience being sidelined—mainly because the concept of Two-Spirit stands contrary to the idea of North America being ‘postcolonial.’ As a response to the intersection of Indigeneity and queer, Two-Spirit bodies employ agencies that have resulted in the formation of a variety of groups and organizations.

Because of the socio-economic predicaments and traumas the Two-Spirit community faces on a daily basis, such as the discrimination and criminalization of sex work, the Dancing to Eagle Spirit Society was created by founder Sandra Laframboise as a local resource group in Vancouver in the early 1990s. This was the time period where the term “Two-Spirit” began to be recognized by tribal nations across (so-called) North America, in accordance with the quote used above. It was a particularly troubling time in Vancouver, especially as Downtown Eastside’s public health epidemics reached crisis levels. Its key mission is “dedicated to the healing and empowerment of aboriginal and non-aboriginal two-spirit individuals, their friends, and their allies” (dancingtoeaglespiritsociety.org, 2008). The organization utilizes traditional Indigenous lessons and rituals as a means to cultivate an emotional and spiritual wellbeing for its members. Some of these traditions include: sweat lodge ceremonies, monthly smudging circles with other groups, annual “vision quests/spiritual fasts,” as well as the Eagle’s Nest Market, where Indigenous folks can sell regalia, art, and medicines.

Groups like the Dancing to Eagle Spirit Society exist, in part, as an ongoing reworking of both the cis/heteronormative leadership of Indigenous rights groups and the homonormative/settler colonial leadership of LGBTQ rights groups. Two-Spirit scholar Qwo-Li Driskill, as well as other Indigenous scholars, emphasize that Two-Spirit narratives pose as alternatives to the systems of heteropatriarchy and heteronormativity into which mainstream LGBTQ groups seek assimilation (Driskill et. al, 2011, 33). These systems have historically been utilized to oppress and eradicate non-normative sexual and gender identities, throughout the span of the settler colonial project. Settler colonialism necessitates the disappearance of Indigenous bodies to pave the way for land to be to “inherited,” and bodies that are queered via the Eurocentric gaze demand that disappearance even more so (Driskill et. al, 2011, 36).

Reconciling these oppressions synthesizes into ways that traditional storytelling and rituals, along with the dimensions of the Two-Spirit subject itself, can produce novel ways of imagining identity and belonging, as well as organizing as a whole. Often times religions or spiritualities are demonized by LGBTQ groups because of the traditions they made pertain towards queer and trans bodies, but the Dancing to Eagle Spirit Society shows that not all belief systems function that way.

dancingtoeaglespiritsociety.org. (2008). Retrieved November 08, 2017

Driskill, Q., et. al (2011). Queer indigenous studies critical interventions in theory, politics, and literature. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.