From left: Heather Igloliorte with Taqsiqtuut Research-Creation Lab staff Chris Mockford & Natalie Rollins

There’s a new Indigenous arts research space at the University of Victoria (UVic) that is looking up—way up—to the arts of the circumpolar region, as well as all along the Pacific shoreline and from Alaska to New Zealand, with Victoria at the center of it all.

The Taqsiqtuut Research-Creation Lab is the latest project by Heather Igloliorte, UVic’s inaugural Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Decolonial and Transformational Indigenous Art Practices, based in the Faculty of Fine Arts. Igloliorte’s prestigious eight-year, $8-million position is advancing reconciliation through the transformative power of art and innovative exhibition practices, and is supporting a new generation of students, researchers, educators, curators and artists to drive change through artistic practice.

“Indigenous people don’t necessarily have access to the same cutting-edge technologies that others do, just like they lack access to museums and galleries in the North,” says Igloliorte.

The development of digital and media-arts skills is one main area that will help remove these barriers by putting innovative tools—like augmented and extended reality—into the hands of students and artists alike. “They can experiment and see if they’re interested in bringing their current practices into a media art space … The potential is there for people to grow in exciting new directions.”

As such, the Taqsiqtuut Research Creation lab is addressing the key pillars of Igloliorte’s CERC: not only these practical digital skills but also the creation of exhibitions, the training and mentoring of students and youth, and the development of new policies and best practices for institutions that engage with Indigenous art and artists.

See the lineup & RSVP for the Feb 28 launch event here, including a 1pm welcome and panel discussion, a 3pm film screening and the 5-7pm installation walk-through and demonstration.

Listen to this interview with Heather Igloliorte on CBC Radio’s All Points West on February 27.

The “qiaqsutuq” installation on view at the opening of the Taqsiqtuut Research-Creation Lab,
curated by Heather Igloliorte, Alysa Procida & Carla Taunton

Designing new collaborations

Open to students and Indigenous members of the artistic community, as well as visiting artists and artistic residencies (plus other community members by invitation), the Taqsiqtuut lab is named after the Inuktitut word for patterns and designs, which suits Igloliorte’s intention of providing a training and mentorship space at the intersection of both customary and digital practices.

“In the past, I’ve worked with artists who’ve learned how to take their beadwork practice and turn it into stop-motion animation, for example, or to take their work on the land and then translate that into a VR or an augmented reality film or project,” explains Igloliorte. “But it can also go the other way: we work with artists with a lot of training in digital or media practices who are now thinking about translating their work into a land-based practice, or an intangible heritage project.”

Currently run by a diverse mix of five (including faculty and staff, plus post-doctorate, graduate and undergraduate students), the lab is in the process of building up a technological library of project-based digital tools.

“We’ll keep building as we go,” says Igloliorte. “For a stop-motion project, we’ll invest in stop-motion technology, and when we work with seamstresses on an Indigenous customary clothing pattern-making workshop, then we’ll purchase a pattern-imaging device. “We also have a high-end video and media arts editing suite and a digital media arts technician who’s here to help students and community members realize their own far-ranging projects.”

Carey Newman demonstrates his Witness Blanket VR project to a visitor
during the launch of the Taqsiqtuut Research-Creation Lab on Feb 28 

Igloliorte feels UVic—and Victoria specifically—is an ideal location for the Taqsiqtuut lab.

“Victoria is nestled at the center of both the Pacific and the North, from the west coast of North America on up to Alaska, then across the Arctic and around the circumpolar world, but also over to Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand and Samoa,” she says. “I have a large network of colleagues and artists I’ve been working with for a long time—partners who are working and thinking across Indigenous cultures, and learning from each other in order to move towards this place of transformation and decolonization.”

Curating the future

In addition to maintaining her international partnerships and establishing the Taqsiqtuut lab, Igloliorte also carries a teaching load with the Visual Arts department and supports various community projects, such as jurying the Salt Spring National Art Prize and the Yukon Art Prize, and curating Newfoundland’s international Bonavista Biennale—all of which is part of her robust CERC position.

She will also host a UVic conference in May 2025 for all the stakeholders who contributed to her CERC application. “It will be a big international gathering of Indigenous scholars and museum directors, plus curators, artists and community members,” she says. “We’re coming together to make plans for publications, exhibitions, mentorships, public engagements and policy documents.”

Heather Igloliorte’s multifaceted and interdisciplinary work aligns with UVic’s commitment to ʔetal nəwəl | ÁTOL,NEUEL, as well as commitments to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals focused on quality education, decent work, economic growth, reduced inequalities and peace and justice.

The “qiaqsutuq” installation was created by Jamesie Fournier (Nunavummiut/Yellowknife), Erin Ggaadimits Ivalu Gingrich (Koyukon Denaa & Inupiaq/Anchorage), Colo Lyne (Kalaaleq Greenlandic/Denmark), Malayah Maloney (Nunavummiut/Vancouver) and Taqralk Partridge (Nunavummiut/Ottawa), and curated by Heather Igloliorte (Nunatsiavummiut/Victoria), Alysa Procida (Settler/Toronto) & Carla Taunton (Settler/Halifax)