Local artists and activists sound off on education, colonialism, and healing.
Kim Senklip Harvey
Kim Senklip Harvey (she/her) is an Indigenous Theorist and Cultural Evolutionist. A proud member of the the Syilx and Tsilhqot’in Nations with ancestral ties to the Dakelh, Secwepemc, and Ktunaxa communities, Harvey began working in theatre as a performer before writing her debut play Kamloopa: An Indigenous Matriarch Story, which premiered in 2018 and won the Governor General Award in 2021. She is currently writing her next play, Breaking Horizons, as well as writing and developing two television series, and will begin a PhD in law in fall 2021.
Harvey’s work centres matriarchy, joy, Indigenous love, and gas station hot dogs.
“The state has been deliberately attacking our culture from the inception of colonization because they know it is the portal into the health, vitality, and the thrivance of Indigenous peoples… I believe that joy is an act of rebellion, that NDN love is so indestructible and nourishing and necessary to heal and transform society. I use comedy and laughter in my storytelling to open our hearts, heal our spirits and remember the intersectional nature of our cosmic cultural connections.”
Giselle Clarke-Trenaman
Giselle Clarke-Trenaman (she/her) is a multi-faceted theatre artist and administrator. Born in the UK, she grew up in Toronto before moving to North Vancouver where she works as a stage production manager. Occasionally, she steps onstage to sing, act, and speak. During the pandemic, she developed and piloted a new program called Black History Matters, using art and education to teach B.C.’s Black history to elementary school children. What began as a volunteer initiative to help her daughter navigate being the only Black student in her classes has now grown into a full-fledged education movement that ranges from one-off education workshops to year-long programs fusing art and history.
“I want each kid who is the only Black kid in their class or in their school to feel represented, to feel heard and to feel proud of their Blackness and have a role model in the accomplished people that they learn about. I want to have a hand in helping all kids know the history and the herstory of all of those who have come before them so that they can forge their own path knowing that they have the strength of many nations lifting them up to their highest potential.”
Naomi Gracechild
Talking to Naomi Gracechild (she/they), it’s easy to feel like she’s done a little bit of everything. An artist, activist, educator, and medicine-maker, Gracechild’s paintings daylight the narratives of women of the African diaspora. Her clothing line, Melanin Rising Apparel, started with Gracechild printing Read Bell Hooks on a tank top and grew into an expansive range of designs that amplify Black creatives, past and present. As a new path, she is now learning Afro-Caribbean herbal medicine. All this while running her antiracism consultancy, EUPHONY Works. The common thread through it all: healing from the violence of white supremacy.
“If you’re looking for a diversity and inclusion person, I’m not the girl. I don’t think that diversity and inclusion is the way forward until we first have healing and justice… What we need to do is adopt new models that are built with equity with equity inclusion at heart, rather than trying to transform systems that were designed to be exclusive.”
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