Skawennati Explained

Skawennati
Field:New Media artist
Training:Concordia University
Awards:imagineNATIVE Best New Media (2009) Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellow (2011)

Skawennati is a Kahnawakeronon multimedia artist, best known for her online works as well as Machinima that explore contemporary Indigenous cultures, and what Indigenous life might look like in futures inspired by science fiction.[1] [2] She served as the 2019 Indigenous Knowledge Holder at McGill University.[3] In 2011, she was awarded an Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship which recognized her as one of "the best and most relevant native artists."[4]

Skawennati is the co-founder of Nation to Nation and Co-Director with Jason Edward Lewis of Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace, AbTeC, a research network of artists and academics who investigate and create Indigenous virtual environments.[5] AbTeC, whose goal is to ensure Indigenous presence in the web pages, online environments, video games and virtual worlds that comprise cyberspace, is based at the Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and Technology at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec.[5] [6]

She is one of the co-founders of daphne, the first Indigenous artist-run centre in Québec, along with Caroline Monnet, Hannah Claus, and Nadia Myre.[7]

Early life and education

Skawennati, Skawennati Tricia Fragnito, was born in Kahnawake Mohawk reserve in Quebec, home to a sizeable concentration of Mohawk artists and curators.[8] She grew up in the suburb of Châteauguay. In 1992, she earned a BFA in Design Arts and in 1995, a Graduate Diploma of Institutional Administration (Arts Specialization) at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec.[9] Her first position after graduation was with OBORO Artist-Run Centre in Montreal.[10]

Work

Through New Media forms, Skawennati addresses history, the future, and change, particularly as they relate to First Nations and Indigenous cultures. In an interview for the exhibition Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation 3 at Museum of Arts and Design, New York,[11] Skawennati states "that there are plenty images of us in the past. Often in those images often we are silent, we are unnamed and I wanted to show something us else. I wanted us to be able to imagine ourselves in the future."

Skawennati is one of the first recipients of the First People's Curatorial Residency grant, established in 1997 by the Canada Council for the Arts. In 2000, she created Imagining Indians in the 25th Century for I. Witness curated by Catherine Crowston at the Edmonton Art Gallery.[12]

CyberPowWow

See main article: CyberPowWow.

Skawennati's first major online project was CyberPowWow,[13] an online gathering that occurred several times between 1997 and 2004. It was usually hosted through galleries such as the Walter Phillips Gallery and arts institutions such as the Banff Centre.[14] The central thrust of CyberPowerWow was to create an aboriginal territory in cyberspace. CyberPowWow — a chat room functioning as an interactive digital art gallery, allowing people to form communities both online and in real life—provided "a means for indigenous artists and storytellers to secure footing in the digital urban."[15] Skawennati worked with Indigenous artists and writers who customized the space with images, scripts, and Indigenous avatars.[16]

In 2011, she was awarded an Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship which recognized her as one of "the best and most relevant native artists."[17]

TimeTraveller™

Her Machinima series TimeTraveller™ has episodes on the death of Mohawk saint Kateri Tekakwitha, the Dakota Sioux Uprising of 1862, the 1990 Oka Crisis, and other watershed events in Indigenous history. This multiplatform work "resist[s] pan-Indian and neo-luddite stereotypes of First Nations peoples."[18] Furthermore, it seeks to highlight the "misinterpretation and abuse of Indigenous art and people."[19]

She Falls for Ages

Part of the 2017 solo exhibition Tomorrow People, She Falls for Ages retells a Haudenosaunee creation story using sci-fi, the virtual world and a feminist lens. Her version included a futuristic aesthetic and bright colours, created using the Second Life program as a medium.[20] [21]

Selected exhibitions

Curatorial Work

Awards

She is a multiple award winner, particularly for her project TimeTraveller™, a nine episode Machinima series that used science fiction to examine First Nations histories.[35] In 2009, she was awarded Best New Media winner at ImagineNATIVE for TimeTraveller™.[36]

In 2011, Skawennati was a 2011 Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellow and in 2013 was again a Best New Media winner, this time with the AbTeC collective for Skahiòn:haiti – Rise of the Kanien’kenhá:ka Legends.

In 2015 she represented Canada at the Biennial of the Americas.[37]

In 2020, she was awarded a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship.[38]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Artists in Canada. Network. Government of Canada, Canadian Heritage, Canadian Heritage Information. app.pch.gc.ca. en. October 27, 2018.
  2. Web site: Skawennati. www.centrevox.ca. en-US. October 27, 2018.
  3. Web site: Indigenous Knowledge Holder Series 2019. Indigenous Studies Program. en. March 23, 2019.
  4. Web site: Must See: NMAI in New York's 'We Are Here! The Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship' Exhibit – Indian Country Media Network. Leizens. Tish. May 26, 2012. indiancountrymedianetwork.com. en-US. March 18, 2017.
  5. Web site: Skawennati: for the ages. imagineNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival. en-US. March 12, 2018.
  6. Web site: Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace. en-CA. February 15, 2019.
  7. Web site: T'Cha. Dunlevy. 2020-11-19. Introducing daphne, Montreal's first Indigenous artist-run centre. 2021-02-04. Montreal Gazette. en-CA.
  8. Book: Simpson. Audra. Mohawk Interruptus: Political Life across the Borders of Settler States. 2014. Duke University Press. Durham, NC.
  9. Book: Taubman. Ellen. McFadden. David Revere. Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation 3. 2012. Museum of Art and Design. New York. 168.
  10. News: Skawennati takes aboriginal storytelling into cyberspace. August 24, 2016. Georgia Straight Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly. March 18, 2017. en.
  11. Web site: MARZO. CINDI Di. A Redefining Moment in the History of Native American Art, Studio International. Studio International – Visual Arts, Design and Architecture. en-gb.
  12. Web site: Skawennati — Imagining Indians in the 25th Century: Credits. Skawennati.com. January 20, 2020.
  13. Web site: CyberPowWow.
  14. Web site: Artist Profile: Skawennati – Kahnawake Mohawk. tworowtimes.com. Garlow. Nahnda. March 5, 2016.
  15. 2015. "Indigenous in Cyberspace: CyberPowWow, God's Lake Narrows, and the Contours of Online Indigenous Territory". American Indian Culture and Research Journal. 39. 4. 56. Gaertner. David. 10.17953/aicrj.39.4.gaertner.
  16. Summer 2005. "Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace". Cultural Survival Quarterly. 29. 2. Lewis. Jason. July 5, 2016.
  17. Web site: Must See: NMAI in New York's 'We Are Here! The Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship' Exhibit – Indian Country Media Network. Leizens. Tish. May 26, 2012. indiancountrymedianetwork.com. en-US. March 18, 2017.
  18. Book: LaPensee. Elizabeth. Ng. Jenna. Understanding Machinima: Essays on Filmmaking in Virtual Worlds. 2013. A&C Black. 9781441149626. 207.
  19. Book: Mcnutt and Holland. We Are Here: The Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship 2011. University of Washington. 2011. 9780295991795. Washington. backmatter.
  20. News: Reviews. Huard. Adrienne. 2017. Canadian Art. 122.
  21. Web site: Tomorrow People OBORO. www.oboro.net. February 15, 2019.
  22. Web site: Exhibition. www.oboro.net. en. March 17, 2018.
  23. Web site: Exhibition. plugin.org. en. September 23, 2017.
  24. Web site: Exhibition. nac.org. May 21, 2016.
  25. Web site: Canada's avant-garde set to storm Brock University next week. The Brock News, a news source for Brock University. May 21, 2016.
  26. Web site: Exhibition. www.sawvideo.com. en. March 17, 2018.
  27. Web site: Exhibition. www.oboro.net. en. January 18, 2018.
  28. Web site: Exhibition. www.vtape.org. en-US. March 17, 2018.
  29. Web site: exhibition. www.centrevox.ca. en-US. January 18, 2018.
  30. Web site: Exhibition. ellengallery.concordia.ca. en-US. March 17, 2018.
  31. Book: Lauder . Adam . Exhibition. Smith . Matthew Ryan . Cross . Wahsontiio . Longboat . Maize . Gregory . Helen . 2019 . McIntosh Gallery, University of Western Ontario . Adam Lauder, Matthew Ryan Smith, Wahsontiio Cross, Maize Longboat, Helen Gregory . 978-0-7714-3132-6 . London, Ont. . en.
  32. Web site: Reynolds. Pamela. July 28, 2020. Exhibition. 2021-03-31. www.wbur.org. en.
  33. Web site: Exhibitions . www.artgalleryofhamilton.com . AGH . 27 March 2023.
  34. Web site: Indigenous digital art — past, present and future. www.concordia.ca. March 12, 2018.
  35. Web site: Machinima art series revisits Oka Crisis, moments in native history. Ore. Jonathan. CBC News. CBC. March 5, 2016.
  36. Web site: ImagineNATIVE. ImagineNATIVE. March 5, 2016.
  37. Web site: 2015 Biennial of the Americas. Biennial of the Americas. March 5, 2016.
  38. Web site: Dunlevy. T'Cha. September 3, 2020. Montreal Mohawk artist Skawennati awarded Smithsonian fellowship. 2021-03-31. montrealgazette. en-CA.

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