My practice is based out of Toronto and South Algonquin. I am an off-reserve member of Alderville First Nation; my father is Anishinaabe, and my mother is a descendent of white settlers from Wilberforce Ontario. These ancestries have deeply influenced my worldview both personally and artistically.From my earliest memories, I can recall the presence of household politics; the negotiation of space between two nations and the firm and determined push for the survivance of the last remaining pieces of our Indigenous ways of knowing and being. As a young one I felt torn between these two legacies; both included and excluded from Indigenous and Western culture. Gratefully, I grew up in an environment where creativity was valued. Some of my dad’s family beaded, made moccasins, tanned hides, worked with textiles, wrote poetry, or painted, and I was encouraged to construct art out of whatever was on hand. Not only do I take pleasure in working with conventional fine art materials such as acrylic paint and glass beads, but I also enjoy the freedom of utilizing found objects such as paper bags, scraps of birch bark and pine needles.When reflecting on my lifelong artistic journey I recognize a common thread of relationship and identity connecting the pieces together. My works are sometimes situational, often inspired by personal ruminations over familial stories or reclamation of traditional knowledge, and always rooted in the blood memory of my Indigenous culture.Above all, I believe that art is medicine for both the viewer and the artist. Art has provided me with a conduit; a method to interrogate ideas and nagging questions. It has also acted as a dynamic icebreaker to start conversations, share experiences and develop ideas. Over the years I have had the pleasure to learn from and with family as well as other artists including Miranda Blazey, Vanessa Barnett, Steve Rose, Jay Bell Redbird, Isaac Murdoch, Harold Klunder, Rosary Spence, Marie Gaudet, Jarvis Nahdee, Evelyn Pakinewatik, Marissa Magneson and most fondly, Lila Lewis Irving – all of which I am grateful to for their generosity in sharing both knowledge and gifts.My work has been exhibited in many galleries and shows including the Dignam Gallery, SKAUT Design, Cobalt Gallery, the Rogers Legacy Space, Scotiabank Contact exhibit, Artist Awake, Masterpiece Gallery and MacFab.