CES to sponsor and introduce keynote speaker at 32nd Annual SLSA

CES to sponsor and introduce keynote speaker - Digital artist Skawennati - at the 32nd Annual Conference for Literature, Science, and the Arts (SLSA) - “Out of Mind,” organized by David Cecchetto (York University) and Marcel O’Gorman (University of Waterloo)

Skawennati is a Mohawk artist whose interactive digital narrative works explore contemporary Indigenous cultures and and the promise of creating digital presents and futures that displace the spatial practices, epistemic violence, and inherited narratives that, instead, continue to support colonialist and imperialist activities at the expense of Indigenous people and cultures throughout the Americas.

The premiere of Skawennati's latest production "Words Before All Else Part 2 and Part 3" is commissioned by the Fabulous Film Festival. In this digital work, Skawennati (TimeTraveller™, She Falls For Ages) uses the Virtual Reality platform Second Life to design settings, props and costumes for Indigenous stories. During Words Before All Else Part 1, Skawennati's avatar, xox (pictured above), recites the first part of the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address, which addresses the People. In parts 2 and 3, she will thank Mother Earth and the water.