Artwork by Nadya Kwandibens

Ryerson celebrates Indigenous identity with artwork installation. Ryerson University. (2020, September 1): https://www.torontomu.ca/news-events/news/2020/09/ryerson-celebrates-indigenous-identity-with-artwork-installation/

• Located at the TMU Library entrance, Dancer Tee Lyn Duke was photographed inside a Toronto subway station to represent contemporary Indigenous identity.
• “Captured in 2010, the portrait is part of Kwandibens’ Concrete Indians series, which reflects on contemporary Indigenous identity. Collaborating with subjects who volunteer their participation, she explores what urbanization means for Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island and how living in urban areas can affect one’s cultural identity.”
• “The woman photographed, Tee Lyn Duke, is a member of an Anishinaabe dance troupe who rides Toronto’s public transit to rehearsals and often wears her regalia en route,” said Kwandibens. “Photographed during rush hour at Spadina Station, this portrait speaks directly to the ‘Tkaronto’ Indigenous experience: Duke stands still amongst waves of people, and the movement around her conveys a sense of existing in an entirely different world that is both past and future, as if to say, ‘Despite all attempts at erasing who we are, here we still stand.’ It means so much to have this piece on Ryerson’s campus to remind younger generations that Indigenous peoples have been here since time immemorial.”

About. Red Works. (n.d.): https://www.redworks.ca/info/

• Nadya Kwandibens is Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) from the Animakee Wa Zhing #37 First Nation in Northwestern Ontario. 
• She is an award-winning photographer and has traveled across Canada for over 10 years.
• In 2008, she founded Red Works Photography, a dynamic photography company empowering contemporary Indigenous lifestyles and cultures through photographic essays, features, and portraits.
• Nadya is seen as a ground-breaking and influential Indigenous artist who brings Indigenous voices and culture to her artwork.