Skawennati

Partnership Coordinator IIF, Co-Director AbTeC, Artist

's Portrait

Turtle Island <3 AbTeC Island

As co-directors of Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace, Jason Edward Lewis and Skawennati make art, invent technologies, write articles, run workshops that teach Indigenous youth how to make video games and machinima (among other things) and generally generate knowledge. In this talk they will describe how their work in the virtual world positively affects the real world.

About Skawennati

Skawennati makes art that addresses history, the future, and change from an Indigenous perspective. She is best known for her machinimas movies made in virtual environments, but also produces still images and sculpture.

Her pioneering new media projects include the online gallery/chat-space and mixed-reality event, CyberPowWow (1997-2004); a paper doll/time-travel journal, Imagining Indians in the 25th Century (2001); and the machinimas TimeTraveller™ (2007-2013), She Falls For Ages (2017) and The Peacemaker Returns (2017). These have been presented in Germany, New Zealand, Hawaii, Ireland, China and across North America in major exhibitions such as “Now? Now!” at the Biennale of the Americas; and “Looking Forward (L’Avenir)” at the Montreal Biennale. Her award-winning work in is included in both public and private collections.

Born in Kahnawà:ke Mohawk Territory, Skawennati is a Kanien'kehá:ka of the turtle clan. She holds a BFA from Concordia University in Montreal, where she resides. She is Co-Director, with Jason E. Lewis, of Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace (AbTeC), a research network of artists, academics and technologists investigating, creating and critiquing Indigenous virtual environments. She also co-directs their Skins workshops in Aboriginal Storytelling and Digital Media. In 2015, AbTeC launched IIF, the Initiative for Indigenous Futures; Skawennati is its Partnership Coordinator.

Partnership Coordinator, Initiative for Indigenous Futures (IIF) http://abtec.org/iif
Co-Director, Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace and Skins Workshops in Aboriginal Storytelling in Digital Media (currently updating website)
Artist http://www.skawennati.com