Imagine if Toronto were reclaimed by nature

Title: Imagine if Toronto were reclaimed by nature
Description: Video introducing the Indigenous futurism virtual reality experience by Filmmaker Lisa Jackson and 3D Artist Mathew Borrett. Biidaaban: First Light reflects on systems of governance as it imagines a future Toronto through the languages Wendat, Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) and Anishinaabe (Ojibway).
Abstract: Lisa Jackson's Biidaaban sees a future where Indigenous values, language and land are all integral to survival.

Last night, I stood in Nathan Phillips Square and looked up into the evening sky engrossed by the galaxy of stars. They twinkled gently while the ethereal hum of frogs and crickets sang in chorus around me. I broke bread with the Creator and Indigenous communities speaking Wendat, Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) and Anishinaabe (Ojibway). And then a turtle walked over my foot.

No, this wasn't a hallucinogenic trip or a lucid dream — I had just stepped into filmmaker Lisa Jackson's VR experience Biidaaban: First Light.

The project is part of what Jackson calls "a rising tide of Indigenous futurism." As she explains: "What Indigenous futurism does is it looks to break through that tendency to stereotype everything that's Indigenous as stuck in the past and incapable of moving into our present or our future."
Date: 2018-09-20
Extent: 4:12
uri: Imagine if Toronto were reclaimed by nature
Is Part Of: State of the Salish Sea
Creator: Lisa Jackson
Publisher: CBC Arts