Imagine if Toronto were reclaimed by nature

Item

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
Creator
Publisher
CBC Arts
Item sets
Salish Resources