Academia for the Indigiqueer: Love Letters & Survival Lessons - Grant Interview

Описание: Academia for the Indigiqueer: Love Letters & Survival Lessons is a multidisciplinary project that brings together the artistics practices that Blake and Alyjah offer. It began as a collection of letters, spoken word pieces, and drawings that represent the experience of being an Indigiqueer student in a postsecondary institution.

This work takes place in Mohkínstsis, Treaty 7 Territory (Calgary, AB) and is an offering to the Indigiqueer community in Treaty 7 and across Turtle Island. This project begins in April 2021 and will be completed in June 2022. The main creation of this project is a 15 minute documentary based on spoken word and academic writing that Alyjah Neil has been working on over the past year. This is a new phase of the project that will work to amplify Indigiqueer voices and make the work accessible to multiple audiences.

Love Letters & Survival Lessons will be created by Blake and Alyjah but include 2-3 community members closely connected to the success of this project, Ilyan Ferre, Joshua Carter, Jo. Beyond creation of a film this project will produce a zine that will be printed and distributed to communities across Treaty 7 and Turtle Island. The final phase of the project will be an expansion of the written portion of this project through the creation of a short book. The zine will be used to include graphics and get the written version of this work out in a shorter time period. The zine will be printed and distributed in the summer of 2021. The book will include the original letters and drawings but expand upon these art pieces by inviting community members into the process to share their experiences of Indigeneity and Queerness in academia through written and visual representations.

This film , zine, and book will be submitted to several film festivals and conferences over the year with the intention of being able to share this work to several different audiences. The first conference that has accepted to share this film is the CASWE-ACFTS 2021 Conference in June.