I saw an artist whose work i really enjoy write that they didn't make a lot this year and I felt so relieved about my own artistic sinkhole for the first time in a while. I let myself think about this last year objectively. We're fine, actually, in case anyone else feels like they've failed. we haven't. the priorities are shifted.

i very plainly did not have a good year for art. i think the only thing i felt unshakeably sincere about was the beaded patch for Palestine. and the poster too, but that one I was a little more worried about it logistically and had to turn my brain on for it more and I was not sure it was going to look okay at all.

The role of the artist is crucial, even now; who makes our posters that are more beautiful than any exhibition i've seen or curated? and then who plasters them all through our streets, pushing everyone in every moment to think about Palestine and what they're going to do about it? they forced Wanda out, and now the streets are the gallery and the people are the curators. and they always have been.

who holds the camera and knows how to capture his breaking heart and then finds the courage to share it with the world? Motaz Azaiza's photographs pierced our hearts. It would be underhanded to not recognize his brilliance. His work is even more powerful than art though, because it is the truth. And I'm grateful for him being honest and telling us that we are failing him and all of Gaza. our ceasefire vote win wasn't fucking shit. keep pushing.

I cry nearly every day about a little girl I never met because the way she was loved transcended language and reached the world. The soul of his soul. Reem, whose birthday should have been on Dec 23rd and who should have been dancing at new years. there aren't any poems i could write that i would love more than the love in her grandfather's words.

Even though I know I didn't make as much art as I wanted to this year and struggle to bring myself to make anything at all, I know I've put my energy in good places. It's okay.

new years resolution; intifada, revolution

FREE PALESTINE, 2023

A ceasefire is not enough. LAND BACK has always meant for Palestine too.

I get to do cool things at my day job. Episode Peyak (one!) premieres Aug 12, 2022 Cree & D is a narrative podcast that uses the format of Dungeons and Dragons gameplay but reimagined as a Cree-based and focused campaign written by siblings Jessica and Ben Johns. This campaign follows the story of three cuzzins, Auntie Vera, Auntie Darlene and Auntie Mac as they search for Kokum Cardinal’s stolen staff and work to preserve the peace in the realm of Ministik. Cree & D is produced by These Ones (formerly known as Together Apart) and supported by grunt gallery on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. We record on Treaty 1 at FAVA studios. Art by Abbey Riddle. Music by Matthew Cardinal. Voices by Ben and Jessica, with Emily Riddle and Matt Ward.

i’m alive and this plant is undeadable

abandoned train tunnel on highway 16

LAND BACK (version 2), ink and digital colour, 2021

The Halluci Nation, Stay (ft. Antoine, Tom Power, Chippewa Travellers) Wot fucking business does Halluci Nation have making my art look so good?

but wot is it well heck i'm working on it

a piece of a little somethin’ somethin’ i’m working on

The Halluci Nation, Remember 01 ft. John Trudell

video by: Combo Bravo and breathe.ent paint by: cedareve art by yours truly ;)

[Image description: illustration of the character Jared from Eden Robinson's Trickster series. He is wearing a red hoodie, a black hat worn with the brim facing back and carrying a blue backpack. He is walking towards a pink-tinted mirror through a mass of feathers. Embedded within the feathers are hands and arms, holding more mirrors facing the viewer. Deep in the right side of the image is a mass of hair, with a single large eye in a ovoid shape]

I was asked to do an illustration for an article in Capilano Courier regarding the cancellation of the CBC Trickster series following the whole…fucking thing with Michelle Latimer. Show some love for Auntie Eden and check out the book series if you haven’t already. There are few authors I get as excited for as I do with Eden, and the Trickster series hits especially close to home. Eden has announced that future author royalties for the series will be donated to the Haisla Language Authority. Image Description in next post.

I was asked to do an illustration for an article in Capilano Courier regarding the cancellation of the CBC Trickster series following the whole...fucking thing with Michelle Latimer. Show some love for Auntie Eden and check out the book series if you haven’t already. There are few authors I get as excited for as I do with Eden, and the Trickster series hits especially close to home. Eden has announced that future author royalties for the series will be donated to the Haisla Language Authority. Image Description in next post.

[Image Description: A portrait of the Dragon Age character Fenris from waist-up. The image is cropped just below his hairline. His skin is brown, with white inked tattoos that stand out starkly in thick lines over his throat and on his hands, with three dots on his forehead. He has no pupils. His white hair is shaved into an undercut. Over his torso is a thick belt that holds a great sword on his back, the hilt poking over the shoulder. He hears a dark blue tunic underneath a fur-lined, patch-worked long jacket. There are black pauldrons on his shoulders and a metal breastplate mostly obscured by a black scarf. He wears dark grey bracers, also lined with fur on the edges. In his hands he holds a scrap of worn, red fabric, gently pulled flat between his hands.]

i read Blue Wraith a while ago and am pretty medium on (the flashback where Fenris was blonde and white was like… excusez-moi, s'il vous plaît? explain) but was also glad that Gideon Emery crawled out of the woodwork to provide this exquisite narration of one of the panels. Image Description in next post.

i read Blue Wraith a while ago and am pretty medium on (the flashback where Fenris was blonde and white was like... excusez-moi, s'il vous plaît? explain) but was also glad that Gideon Emery crawled out of the woodwork to provide this exquisite narration of one of the panels. Image Description in next post.

Behind him is the teeniest, cutest wings. Must unlock friendship level 20 to see.

[Image Description: A portrait of mothman, facing the viewer and slightly turned to the left. He is portrayed as a humanoid creature with large, fluffy antennae and two glowing red eyes. He has no mouth and his body is covered in soft fur. You cannot see his wings. One arm rests across his torso, and the other is bent up towards his face with five red hearts drawn coming from his fingertips]

Digital design for Defund the Police poster produced for a fundraiser in conjunction with the Land Back exhibition at Open Space (on the unceded territories of the Lekwungen-speaking peoples, now known as the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations). The poster is printed by The Riso Collective and available through the Open Space’s online store, alongside designs by Chandra Melting-Tallow, Lacie Burning and Nicole Neidhardt. Each poster is $25 with proceeds going towards each artists chosen cause. Proceeds from my design go towards the Unist’ot’en Camp on Wet’suwet’en territory. [Image Description: A portrait style poster with a mask-like face as it's focal point. The face has one eye and a mouth with pointed teeth that look like they've been set with rivets. Underneath the one eye is a distorted formline u shapes that cover one cheek. On the forehead is a circle shape, off-centre. The face in wrinkled. Framing the face are two panels attached by hinges to each side of the face. On each panel are hands held in a open palmed gesture. Behind these you can see two masses of hair folded over and tied. In the forefront of the image is another set of hands, held close together in open palms and framing the words Defund the Police in a stylized text with northwest coast formline designs.]

I was invited to contribute to this years Moniker Press Artist’s Calendar. The proceeds of this calendar go towards production costs and supporting 2021′s open call for non-profit artist publishing projects. Examples of the riso printed calendar are available in the above link.

[ID: two figures stand on a beach in front of a red sea, facing away from the viewer. out in the water you can see an island covered with dead trees and two mountain ridges further out, similarly barren. there are clouds streaked across a blue sky that fades to red on the horizon. the two figures are walking towards the water, one reaching back and the other poised to take their hand. the taller of the two figures is wearing purple jeans with a blue tucked in long sleeved shirt. they’re wearing a backpack in the shape of a cylindrical glass capsule, and it contains a fern frond suspended within. under one arm they are holding a metal container and they are wearing a visor that covers the front of their face. tattoos can be see peeking out of their sleeves and going up the back of their neck. the shorter figure is angled with the front of their sweater facing us showing a floral design. they are wearing jeans. their face is looking away, towards the water. a floral tattoo covers their throat and they are wearing large disc shaped beaded earrings. In their hand they hold a small circular device that is projecting the image of two trees and a moon]