Gatherings 2.0 // Algonquin artmaking on unceded territory

Claire Brascoupé is an Algonquin Anishinabe artist practicing in community-based public art with a vision to promote Algonquin culture and artists. She has experience in several public art projects in the Ottawa and Gatineau, including the Algonquin Birch Bark Basket Sculpture, Place Abinan in Gatineau, and the Algonquin Canoe sculpture, Algonquin Moose sculpture and Algonquin Birch Bark Biting Window Designs at the Pimisi LRT Station in Ottawa. She is also a digital media artist, animator and filmmaker. 

Mairi Brascoupé is a multidisciplinary Indigenous artist born and raised on unceded Algonquin Territory in Ottawa. Her work is inspired by land-based learning and intergenerational knowledge sharing, using traditional methods of creating while integrating them with contemporary media through the use of printmaking, beadwork and digital illustration. She aims to decolonize the design process, bringing traditional Indigenous knowledge into her artistic practice to highlight the importance of our present day relationship with the land. 

Simon Brascoupé is an Anishinaabe/ Haudenosaunee artist from Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation based on Algonquin Territory in Ottawa. He has completed public art, including an Algonquin Birch Bark Basket sculpture at Abinan Place based on Algonquin Elders’ collaborative voices. He completed large murals for the Heart Institute, Ottawa and at Ojigkwanong Indigenous Student Centre, Carleton University. He recently completed two large public artworks for the Pimisi Station: Mamawi – Together paddle installation painted by 100 Algonquin artists, and Algonquin moose. His artistic vision is to have a significant presence in public art and institutions for Algonquin and Indigenous art and culture. 

Emily Akikodjiwan Brascoupé-Hoefler is a mixed media artist and educator who creates pieces of art inspired by her family, community teachings and her experiences on the land. Through the process of reclaiming lost art practices and traditions she is weaving new cultural understanding and healing into her work. Emily has a vision of promoting First Nation culture and increasing representation in the public space. When Emily is not creating, she may be working as a policy analyst. Emily lives in unceded Anishinabe territory with her husband and three children. She is a member of Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg and has Anishinabe, Haudenosaunee and Irish ancestors. 

Jobena Petonoquot is of Algonquin ancestry and is from Kitigan Zibi, Quebec. She is currently pursuing an MFA in Fibres & Material Practices at Concordia University. She has presented her work in exhibitions and events in Quebec, Canada and the United States. In 2018, she was the first Indigenous artist to win the Impressions Residency at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Jobena’s work is in public collections including the Indigenous Art Centre at Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Global Affairs and the Ottawa Art Gallery, and in numerous private collections.