Embodying Ancestral Love

Indigenous youth are the windows into our collective Indigenous future, inheritors of a brilliant legacy that has survived colonialism. They need to be empowered as future leaders by unconditional love. An Anishinaabe artist is doing just that, utilizing her own lived experiences to generate an Anishinaabe-centred art space for Indigenous youth to come home to themselves through the lens of their Ancestors. I sat with her to learn about the Indigenous Youth Residency Program she founded.

Quill Christie-Peters: My name is Quill Christie-Peters. I’m Anishinaabeg on my dad’s side and Scottish and Irish on my mom’s side. I’m from Treaty 3 territory, specifically Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation. I am an artist and an educator. I do some writing. I also do some cultural tattoo work. I am currently living in Thunder Bay.

Tasha Beeds: How did you come to art?

QC-P: Art has always been a part of my life. When I was young, I would always paint and write. My dad is also an artist, but he was an ebbing, flowing presence in my life, so he didn’t necessarily sit me down and say, “I’m going to teach you how to paint.” It was a very innate thing within me, how I wanted to process and contribute to the world. As I have moved deeper into being an artist, I’ve realized creative practice is the foundation of Anishinaabeg culture and community. Everyone is an artist and contributes to creative practice, especially from an Anishinaabeg perspective; art is a language, something innately in us.

TB: I love the way you frame art as an inherent part of who we are. Can you share more about the Indigenous Youth Residency Program?

QC-P: During my master’s, I translated my worldview into a set of artistic methodologies that could be used within the context of urban Indigenous artistic programming in a gallery. The Program is an artist residency for Indigenous youth aged twelve to twenty-four. We hire six youth and they are paid well. It’s premised on Anishinaabeg artistic methodologies, so it’s more about relationship building as part of an artistic practice and less about learning how to paint or bead. The Program also focuses heavily on settler colonialism and giving youth the tools to articulate how those structures impact our lives and relationships. At the end, the youth create beautiful artwork that is shown at different galleries. It’s special. There are lots of great arts programs for Indigenous youth, but I don’t know of many that implement our ways of relating to one another within the program’s structure itself.

TB: How do you find the youth?

QC-P: We do a call out and have an interview process, but it isn’t based on credentials or even artistic inclinations; it’s finding youth who will work well together, who need the Program, access to connections, and access to learning about colonialism.

TB: What is the structure of the Program?

QC-P: It has existed in different iterations. When I first ran the Program, it was in Toronto at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Now that I live here in Thunder Bay, it is run here. We always work with youth who are living in the place, to build community. There are two versions: one is a five-week full-time intensive and the other is an after-school eight-to-ten-week version. Mostly, we do the intensive one and it is intense.

TB: Can you speak to some of the challenges of the Program being situated in Thunder Bay?

QC-P: Everywhere has racism and white supremacy, but it is overt here and out in the open in ways that are scary, which makes this Program important—to have the opportunities to talk about white supremacy, racism, and colonialism. People in Thunder Bay don’t like you to talk about these things. I’ve run the Program in Thunder Bay for four years now, but I do it almost in secret. We get the application out and we have our network of people, but in terms of interacting with the city or having visibility, I don’t. I am just focused on letting Indigenous youth know who we are, what we do, and bringing them in. In a place like Thunder Bay, this type of work gets targeted and taken down, so it is kind of bittersweet—it’s so necessary and powerful to do it here, but it is also kind of scary and lonely.

TB: How long have you run this program?

QC-P: It has been seven years now.

TB: Do you still connect with former youth as part of the larger circle you have created?

QC-P: Definitely. I have remained close with youth who attended seven years ago. The core of the Program is about a relational methodology. We are talking about colonialism; it gets vulnerable and the relationships get strong, really quickly. We’re learning so much together and those relationships are meant to last. I do feel like I am going to close my chapter on this work soon. I have been mentoring two youths to take over. There are many relationships to maintain, and I have limited capacity. It is why the Program only takes on six youth. Those relationships are meant to travel into the future.

TB: Colonialism works to keep us isolated. Once we are isolated, despair and depression, all the feelings, are more intense. The fact you are helping to create and build relationships for Indigenous youth is about survival and will carry them into the future.

QC-P: The Program is rooted in Anishinaabe methodology, but it also reflects my worldview and methodology. It is not so much about passing the Program down, but instead about passing the understanding of how to approach the work that honours who these young people are and what gifts they have. It’s always going to talk about colonialism and the specific program methodologies are successful in terms of structure, so those will stay the same, but it is more about connecting the young people to their own gifts. They are going to do it way better than me, so it is also giving them permission to change things and to say, “You got this!”

TB: Can you talk about what a day inside an Anishinaabe art methodology might look like? 

QC-P: We always do an opening circle because the idea is to bring our whole personhood to the space. Then, we shift into a lesson. We do a deep dive into some element of colonialism. I give them the language to talk about what they already know. All these young people know colonialism; they just need some language to name and understand it better. The lesson is based on dialogue so while I am teaching, people are sharing. It is very interactive. After each lesson, we have another more intentional circle. I share from my own life, so it is all very vulnerable and opens up the space. These young people are so thirsty for a safe space of connection. In the afternoon we work with different guest artists, Elders, or knowledge keepers. We shift the energy and then we do a closing circle.

TB: At the end, do they create an exhibit? Collectively or individually?

QC-P: It has been both collaborative and individual. A big part of the Program is the witnessing and celebration part. We have a huge art opening. I make a speech and honour every person. There’s tears. Their families are also witnessing their work; it is my responsibility to really tell about the gifts they have shared during the Program. The opening is a part of the methodology because they need to be witnessed and experience what it is like to be held up.

TB: I can see how empowering this program has been and will continue to be for Indigenous youth. Is there a way for people to support the Indigenous Youth Residency Program?

QC-P: We were lucky enough to get multi-year funding. I think we would take donations in the future, once that runs out. People can follow us on social media and take the time to learn about this way of doing things: it is not just what we do, it’s how we do it. This program is all about the how. The very first time I ran it, I realized all I have to do is hold space for these young people and tell them I love them; it’s life changing. They bring so much knowledge and teach me so much, but it is also heartbreaking because it’s rare that young people just to get to come into a space and actually see each other and be told they are loved and worthy. We need to push for more of the work that honours who we are as Indigenous people. I think where the real power happens is when we are doing it in alignment with who we are.

TB: Beautiful! Miigwech for sharing your time and energy.