lgbt-and-indigenous-artists

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Today’s QAOC is Tomson Highway!

From his website:

Tomson Highway was born in a snow bank on the Manitoba/Nunavut border to a family of nomadic caribou hunters. He had the great privilege of growing up in two languages, neither of which was French or English; they were Cree, his mother tongue, and Dene, the language of the neighbouring “nation,” a people with whom they roamed and hunted.

Today, he enjoys an international career as playwright, novelist, and pianist/songwriter. His best known works are the plays, “THE REZ SISTERS,” “DRY LIPS OUGHTA MOVE TO KAPUSKASING,” “ROSE,” “ERNESTINE SHUSWAP GETS HER TROUT,” and the best-selling novel, “KISS OF THE FUR QUEEN.” For many years, he ran Canada’s premiere Native theatre company, Native Earth Performing Arts (based in Toronto), out of which has emerged an entire generation of professional Native playwrights, actors and, more indirectly, the many other Native theatre companies that now dot the country.

A good read: Kiss of the Fur Queen

“In his first novel, Kiss of the Fur Queen, noted playwright Tomson Highway tells the story of two Cree brothers who were severely abused at a Catholic residential school, and he uses the full transformative power of magic and myth, as well as a compelling traditional novel plot, to restore to them their dignity and, by implication, that of their people."―Toronto Globe and Mail

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~Very important! Two-spirit is NOT a term for non-Indigenous people, as it encompasses both gender AND a general status/role/position/identifier in many Indigenous cultures.~ 

I apparently need to say this again. Two Spirit is NOT for non-native lgbtqia+ consumption. It is a term that is only for and by Native/Indigenous people! It is NOT your word to use!

-M

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You have to go through hell first to get to the light.

Tomson Highway (Cree) on writing (via urbannativemag)

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Kent Monkman as Miss Chief Eagle Testickle

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“With a lot of my work, I try to create this dialogue between the settler culture and First Nations culture because we’ve been living together for hundreds of years now and we’ve been exchanging ideas and our cultures have been influencing each other. When I look at the art history…there’s not much evidence of that because the art history as told and perpetuated in our museums is still very one sided.”

Kent Monkman (via terresauvage)

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Ryan Young’s piece on the deep-rooted, precolonial queerness. 

“my queerness is traditional” Ryan Young 2017

One of my newest pieces for my senior project. Got a few pics done over the weekend and shooting more tomorrow!

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Joshua Whitehead

Gender: Two Spirit (unsure on pronouns)

Sexuality: Queer

DOB: N/A

Ethnicity: First Nation -  Oji-Cree

Occupation: Poet, writer

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Ma-Nee Chacaby

Unlike many others depicted on this blog, Ma-Nee Chacaby’s most famous work is entirely biographical, being a memoir depicting her life and reflections on her identity and experiences. Chacaby is an twospirited lesbian Ojibwe-Cree activist and writer, famed for her strides in both Indigenous and LGBTQ+ related issues. She grew up in Northern Ontario in Ombabika and narrowly avoided being taken to a residential school as part of the Sixties Scoop because she and her stepfather were away hunting and trapping at the time. 

Her memoir, A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder, describes the myriad of obstacles, struggles, and successes of her life, from the abuse she suffered as a child to her loving, supportive relationship with her grandmother to her experiences being an out of the closet lesbian in a time when being LGBT+ was at best difficult and at worse downright dangerous. Her biography is a beautiful depiction of not only her life and experiences, but the types of struggles and experiences that many Indigenous and LGBT+ people have faced and continue to face to this day. Source: Paradis, Scott. “Book chronicles two-spirited elder’s struggle and redemption.” TB News Watch, 2016. Retrieved from https://www.tbnewswatch.com/local-news/book-chronicles-two-spirited-elders-struggle-and-redemption-405779 .

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The Rez Sisters by Tomson Highway

… from Fifth House Publishers …

This award-winning play by Native playwright Tomson Highway is a powerful and moving portrayal of seven women from a reserve attempting to beat the odds by winning at bingo. And not just any bingo. It is THE BIGGEST BINGO IN THE WORLD and a chance to win a way out of a tortured life.

The Rez Sisters is hilarious, shocking, mystical and powerful, and clearly establishes the creative voice of Native theatre and writing in Canada today.

Published in 1988.

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Joshua Whitehead

Joshua Whitehead is one of the most out there writers to come out of Canada in the past five years. Being a fairly recent contributor to the list of LGBTQ+ Indigenous writers, Joshua published his first book “full-metal indigiqueer” in 2017. The book is a poetry collection focusing heavily on the intersection of Indigenous identity and being twospirited. It is a very playful collection of poetry where it follows Zoa, a twospirited trickster who crosses paths with the likes of Shakespear and Dickens all the way to figures such as RuPaul and Lana Del Ray. 

Joshua’s work can be perceived as very personal. He studies Indigenous literature and culture at the University of Calgary with the focus being specifically on gender and sexuality. His work has always been unapologetically about issues and topics surrounding these themes as well. And his writing style, much like his fashion, is very progressive, playful, yet impactful. Being very in touch with the LGBTQ+ community in Canada as well as his Indigenous roots, Joshua really does put his life and spirit into his work as well as his activism.

Source: 

Whitehead, Joshua. "About — Joshua Whitehead". Joshua Whitehead, 2019, https://www.joshuawhitehead.ca/about.

Whitehead, Joshua. "Full-Metal Indigiqueer | CBC Books". CBC, 2018, https://www.cbc.ca/books/full-metal-indigiqueer-1.4148550.

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Charlie Kerr

Charlie Kerr is not a conventional writer, he can be considered to be an artist. He not only writes, he performs, he sings, he acts. Born in Vancouver, BC, Charlie is a very proud Metis. In an interview, he has said that he loved participating in Metis organized events and speaking publicly about his heritage. He said it is almost the “genetically right thing to do”. 

Perhaps best known for being the frontman of the Canadian band Hotel Mira, Charlie’s performance skill and charisma are very unique. He embraces his feminine side whether it be on stage, in music videos, or just during a photoshoot where he dress androgynous. His music never really focused on his heritage, however. As a self titled “Social Justice Warlock”, Charlie took quite a bit of inspiration from socially active artists such as Bob Dylan and John Lennon. He also stated in an interview that social justice is something that’s always been close to his heart.

Source: 

McGuire, Benn, and Joe Leary. In Convo With Joe - Featuring Charlie Kerr (Hotel Mira). 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R7oiY3voSc. Accessed 7 Dec 2020.

"Hotel Mira's Charlie Kerr Takes His Battle With Mental Illness To The Stage In Support Of The B.C. Schizophrenia Society". Newswire.Ca, 2019, https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/hotel-mira-s-charlie-kerr-takes-his-battle-with-mental-illness-to-the-stage-in-support-of-the-b-c-schizophrenia-society-813980499.html.

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An excerpt from Benaway’s book “Passage”. 

 https://www.cbc.ca/books/passage-1.4015597

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Gwen Benaway

Gwen Benaway is as much of an activist as she is a writer. Focusing very specifically on the intersections of Indigenous and trans culture, Gwen’s work tackles issues regarding transphobia in a very head on approach. Being a trans woman herself, Gwen claims that she is of Anishiaabe and Metis descent. 

In her collections of poems, Gwen tackles issues surrounding the ongoing colonial violence as well as the presence of transphobia. Her work has been described as very aesthetically pleasing and very personal to a degree. A lot of her work does reflect on her own experiences being a trans woman as well as the struggles she faces. Her poetry, in and of itself, can be seen as a form of decolonization in the sense that she focuses on her own transformation from colonial/European norms to being in touch with her inner self. They are all stories of survival, violence, colonization, decolonization, rebirth, and everything in between.

Source: 

Stepaniuk, Casey. “‘In the Ancestral Arms / of Every Season / I Am Heir to’: A Review of Gwen Benaway's Poetry Collection PASSAGE.” Casey the Canadian Lesbrarian, 16 May 2017, caseythecanadianlesbrarian.com/2017/05/16/in-the-ancestral-arms-of-every-season-i-am-heir-to-a-review-of-gwen-benaways-poetry-collection-passage/. 

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“The Scream,” Kent Monkman

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Kent Monkman, Female Figures in a Prison