Orion guest artist Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie

by | Feb 25, 2026 | Art History & Visual Studies, Events, Faculty, Graduate, indigenous, Orion Series in Fine Arts, Research, Visual Arts

All are welcome to hear visiting Orion Series visiting artist Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie, a professor at the University of California, speak on “The Concreteness of Imagination”: 6:30pm Thursday, March 12 in room A162 of the Visual Arts Building. Free & open to all. This talk is presented by our Art History & Visual Studies department.

She’ll also be leading the 2-day workshop Printing Resistance on March 10 & 11 (10am–5pm) at the Taqsiqtuut Indigenous Research-Creation Lab (room A134) in our Visual Arts building.

For the workshop, you’ll get to design an image for printing based on social issues based on protest, activism & Indigenous resistance + learn a grassroots technique used in protest movements. You’ll keep their printing press after the workshop. Register here. 

Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie is a Professor in the Native American Studies Department, and Faculty Director of the Gorman Museum of Native American Art at University of California Davis, known for photography, social commentary and video. Her presentation will include recent photo projects and portraits.

Tsinhnahjinnie’s work is held in several collections including National Museum of the American Indian (New York and Washington DC), Museum of Modern Art (New York), Eiteljorg Museum (Indianapolis), Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art (Norman), Museum Volkenkunde (Leiden, Netherlands), International Centre of Bethlehem, Dar Annadwa Addawliya (Bethlehem, Palestine) and the National Museums of Scotland (Edinburgh).

Tsinhnahjinnie was born into the Bear clan of the Taskigi Nation, born for Tsi’naajinii of the Dine’ Nation, adopted into the Eagle House of Metlakatla, adopted into the Killer Whale Fin House of Klukwan.Hunka to Muriel Antoine of Mission South Dakota. For the past 22 years, Tsinhnahjinnie has been living and working on Wintun land, located in Northern California.

Makareta & Moana: mentor & mentee,
Tūranganui-a-Kiwa (2026), Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie photo

Orion Guest: poet Kaie Kellough  

by | Feb 25, 2026 | Events, Orion Series in Fine Arts, Research, Theatre, Undergraduate, Visual Arts, Writing

All are welcome to hear visiting Orion Series poet, sound artist and writer Kaie Kellough when he speaks on “Self Inside Sound”: 7pm, Wednesday March 4, in the New Student Lounge, main floor of The Mearns Centre – McPherson Library. Free & open to all. 

Kaie Kellough is a poet, sound performer and fiction writer whose work crosses genres and disciplines. He is concerned with language, migration, inequality and the intersections of social engagement and form. Kaie’s long poem, Magnetic Equator (McClelland & Stewart, 2019) was awarded the 2020 Griffin Poetry prize. His collection of short stories, Dominoes at the Crossroads (Véhicule, 2020), was nominated for multiple national awards, and won the AM Klein prize for fiction. His latest long poem, Interposition, will be published in 2026 with McClelland & Stewart.

Since 2011, Kaie has collaborated on audio compositions with saxophonist and synthesist Jason Sharp. Their performances have been broadcast by jazz festivals across Europe and Canada. Their first group album, FYEAR, featured a 9-piece ensemble and was released in 2024 on Constellation Records. Kaie is currently pursuing graduate work at Queen’s University. He studies post-colonial literatures, with a focus on Caribbean and Black British writing. Kaie continues to craft new passages.

Presented by the Department of Writing, the University of Victoria Libraries & Art Collections and the Orion Series in Fine Arts.

Bringing Regalia to Life Community Feast

by | Feb 25, 2026 | Art History & Visual Studies, Faculty, indigenous, Theatre, Visual Arts

AHVS professor Mique’l Dangeli with a piece of new regalia (photo: Claudia Phillips)

Have you ever seen Indigenous regalia danced into life? On March 5, the Indigenous dance group Git Hayetsk (People of the Copper Shield) will be performing in the Indigenous Law wing of the Fraser Building, where they’re debuting new choreography and handmade regalia. The group is led by Ts’msyen artist Dr. Mique’l Dangeli, Indigenous Arts professor with Art History & Visual Studies, and her husband, Nisga’a artist  Mike Dangeli.

All are welcome to this free “Bringing Regalia to Life Community Feast“, running 6 – 8pm Thursday, March 5, in UVic’s Fraser Building Community gathering space (B121) in the  Indigenous Law wing. 

For the past 20 years, Mique’l and Mike have shared the leadership of this intergenerational multi-Nation dance group, whose members’ home communities are in Southeast Alaska and Northern BC. Git Hayetsk has performed nationally and internationally at private and invited ceremonies, and at public arts events. Most of their dancers have grown up in the city, and their participation in the Git Hayetsk is the primary way they have connected with and practiced their culture.

Since moving to Victoria in 2024, Mike and Mique’l have welcomed Nisga’a and Ts’msyen families into the Git Hayetsk by holding weekly dance practices in UVic’s Fine Arts building and Metchosin’s Pearson College. The majority of their new members are UVic students or alumni, and this is the first time they have ever danced their people’s songs and dances in their lives.

With her work at UVic, Dangeli emphasizes the connection between performing and visual arts: for her, there’s no disconnect between the two. “This is a part of not only my research, but my research creation,” she explains, saying art and dance has been a part of her life since her early school age. This connection between performance and visuals is also reflected in Git Hayetsk through the dancing, drumming, and wearing of original regalia.

To make it all happen, they’ve been using two new campus resources: the Taqsiqtuut Indigenous Research-Creation Lab and the Indigenous Law wing in the Fraser building.

Why perform in the Law building?

On the surface, it seems unconventional to perform in the Indigenous Law wing, but Dangeli says it’s actually the perfect place for Git Hayetsk. “It’s a beautiful space that we’ve really found a home within,” she says. Prior to the building’s completion in Fall 2025, there was no dedicated on-campus space for dance groups like hers to practice; until recently, Git Hayetsk practiced either in the lobby of the Fine Arts building or the theatre at Pearson College in Metchosin.

Although the acoustics of the Fine Arts lobby were great, the dancers found the tile and concrete flooring hard on their joints and became uncomfortable when dancing for longer periods of time. The new wing, Dangeli says, is a much better fit. “They have a beautiful gathering space that’s a community hall … it’s essentially a long house inside of the law building.” Additionally, Dangeli explains that the wooden architecture is a better fit for their cultural practices. “It’s actually the most appropriate place for us to practice on campus and to hold this event.”

Making regalia in the Taqsiqtuut lab

Not only is the new Indigenous Law wing an amazing on campus resource, but so is the Taqsiqtuut lab. Every weekend for the past four months, Mike and Mique’l have hosted regalia-making workshops for Git Hayetsk members to work on their handmade regalia, with the support of First People’s Cultural Council. “We’re grateful for the Taqsiqtuut Indigenous Research-Creation Lab’s support of this work, because we wouldn’t have a place to gather and create without them,” says Dangeli.

Their regalia features dance aprons, tunics and collars, all made from leather with a fringe that enhances the movement of both the dancer and the regalia. “Each design is unique to the person wearing it and is a reflection of their family and their rights,” Dangeli explains. “We are matrilineal and our identities are defined by who our mothers and who our grandmothers are. This is an expression and an assertion of their matrilineal line and their identities.”

Maintaining cultural connections through art

An essential part of Git Hayetsk is the community and cultural connection it fosters. Many members were unable to engage with their traditional dances due to the 20th century Potlatch bans criminalizing Indigenous song and dance. “It’s not just taking the songs that survived the Potlatch ban — which are very few,” Dangeli points out, “but it’s also about ensuring that we’re creating people who have independence within our culture.”

This independence involves owning their own regalia, reclaiming their languages and experiencing the songs and dances that are their hereditary rights. Git Hayetsk members spend  four to six hours together every weekend, making regalia and dancing. Dangeli says these activities have “created stronger bonds between my dancers” and built additional trust as they assist each other when making regalia. “It’s been really beautiful to see the artistic gifts that emerge in each one of our dancers.”

Working in the Taqsituut lab

A never-before-seen performance

This particular event stands out in several ways for Git Hayetsk. showing and dancing their regalia for the first time is culturally important to the group. “For our people,” says Dangeli, “it’s the beginning of the life of that ceremonial belonging. So, we’re literally bringing these items to life in front of everybody.”

Some dancers are also trying out a new task in this performance, shifting roles within the group:  a handful of dancers are also drumming, another first for this performance.

At the Community Feast on March 5, they will also have Nisga’a/ Ts’msyen filmmaker Nick Dangeli showing an excerpt of his film — made with the support of the Taqsiqtuut Lab — which documents the dancers coming together as a community to make regalia. This event is also supported by UVic’s Indigenous Storyteller-in-Residence series.

Additionally, they’re doing new choreography that highlights new skills and emphasizes the importance of the space the group is performing in. Dangeli explains that the dancers who’ve been with them for a while are comfortable with the basics, so she crafted new choreography that is specific to the Indigenous Law wing. Moreover, she’s gotten to create choreography that will highlight with their youngest dancers. “Which is so fun for the little hyper things,” she laughs.

—Claudia Phillips

Visiting professor Mike Ananny reckons with Generative AI

by | Feb 25, 2026 | Art History & Visual Studies, Events, Orion Series in Fine Arts, Research, School of Music, Theatre, Undergraduate, Visual Arts, Writing

Faster than many predicted (or wanted), Generative Artificial Intelligence is upon us. It brings a mix of emotions, a shared sense of uncertainty and a persistent question of what we can and should do — individually and collectively — about technological change that feels powerful, inevitable and beyond our control. Visiting guest professor Mike Ananny will offer ways to define and reckon with Generative AI that might help navigate controversies, intervene with integrity at different scales, and debate the perils and promises of “good enough” technologies.
Presented by the Orion Series in Fine Arts, during his six weeks on campus Ananny will speak to students in various classes as well as host a pair of small, focused workshops on March 11 & 25 and a March 19 public talk, the latter of which is being presented in partnership with UVic’s Kula: Library Futures Academy. 
 
 
 
 
 

About Mike Ananny

Mike Ananny is an Associate Professor of Communication and Journalism (and, by courtesy, Cinematic Arts) at the University of Southern California (USC). He studies how people build digital infrastructures, algorithmic systems and artificial intelligence that create public life — and he tries to intervene to make cultures of production, regulatory initiatives and system designs better serve public interests.

At USC he co-directs the interdisciplinary collective Media as SocioTechnical Systems (MASTS) and the AI for Media & Storytelling (AIMS) initiative of the Center on Generative AI and Society, and is an Affiliated Faculty of Science, Technology, and Public Life.

 
 
 
 
 

He is the author of Networked Press Freedom (MIT Press), co-editor (with Laura Forlano and Molly Wright Steenson) of Bauhaus Futures (MIT Press), and publishes in various interdisciplinary academic communities including Journalism Studies, Science and Technology Studies, and Critical Internet Studies. He was a postdoctoral scholar at Microsoft Research, holds a PhD from Stanford University (Communication) and a Masters from the MIT Media Laboratory (Media Arts & Sciences), and has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Helsinki, a Berggruen Foundation Fellow at Stanford’s Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences, and an expert advisor to the Minister of Canadian Heritage on the future of CBC/Radio-Canada. He has written for popular press outlets including The Atlantic, WIRED, Harvard’s Nieman Lab, the Columbia Journalism Review, and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

 
Read Mike’s recent Globe and Mail story about the Stephen Colbert censoring by the US government, and how that impacts Canadian viewing — and values — as well.
 

About the workshops

Workshop 1: “Journalism & Generative AI: Exploring histories, power & synthetic futures of news language”
2:30-4:30pm Wed, March 11 • Fine Arts room 108 • Free
 
 
In this small workshop, students will explore a domain (journalism) and see how GenAI works (or doesn’t work) for that domain. Open to all, but may be of most interest to people studying and practising journalism or writing longform nonfiction.
 
 
Workshop 2: “Crafting your Own Perspective on Generative AI: Drafting first-person statements of synthetic media principles & practices”
2:30-4:30pm Wed, March 25 • Fine Arts room 108 • Free
 
 
In this small workshop, students will learn how to create first-person statements of practice by understanding, using/refusing Generative AI in your practice, and how to describe yourself and your work in relation to synthetic media. Open to all, but it may be of most interest to creative practitioners and artists of all backgrounds, methods and media (not only writers).
 

About the public talk

“Reckoning with Generative Artificial Intelligence”

5 – 6pm Thursday, March 19 in the Phillip T. Young Recital Hall, School of Music (MacLaurin A-wing) 

Free & open to all • Find out more here

T’uy’t’tanat Cease Wyss speaks at Activism & the Arts lecture series

by | Feb 13, 2026 | donor, Events, indigenous, Research, School of Music, Visual Arts

Save the date for our annual donor-funded Lehan Family Activism & the Arts Lecture Series: this year, we present ethnobotanist, artist and community-based educator T’uy’t’tanat- Cease Wyss speaking on the topic of “Diaspora of Ancient Technologies and the Future Herstory of IndigiFuturisms”.

Technology has been part of humanity since the earth was formed, yet many people have lost their connectivity to “temexw” or “earth” and have attempted to find their way through digital technologies. But the connections have always been there on both ends of the technological spectrum: how we play and create today reflects this, and how we interact is our connection to the beginning.

All are welcome to join us for this free public talk in UVic’s gorgeous new Indigenous Law Wing: 5pm Wednesday Feb 25, in room B142 of the Fraser Building.

T’uy’t’tanat-Cease Wyss (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh/Sto:Lo/Hawaiian/Swiss) is an Indigenous matriarch and interdisciplinary artist who works with digital media, writing, performance and land-based remediations in her multi-disciplinary arts practice. A community-engaged public artist, Indigi-Futurisms developer and ethnobotanist/permaculture designer, for more than 30 years her works have focussed on sustainability, permaculture techniques and Coast Salish cultural elements, including themes of ethnobotany, Indigenous language revival, Salish weaving and digital media technology. She currently holds the MST Fieldhouse artistic residency in Vancouver’s Stanley Park.

Wyss is currently working on bridging the healing sounds of plants and fungi with Indigenous languages, and creating conversations between them all using biosonification with modular synthesizers. During her time on campus, she will also be visiting various classes and engaging with our students.

Wyss and her IM4 Media Lab — which cultivates Indigenous innovation at the intersection of tradition and technology — will also be holding a ReciprociTea & VR Workshop from 1-4pm Tuesday, Feb 24, in UVic’s Taqsiqtuut Indigenous Research-Creation Lab in the Visual Arts building. Come experience her storytelling told through a ceremony of tea and seen through an oculus lens.

Previous guests in our Activism & the Arts series include Charles Campbell, Gord Hill and d’bi.young anitafrika, and you can watch their public talks here.