Publisher & Editor-in-Chief | Rebeka Tabobondung (Wasauksing Ojibway) |
---|---|
Staff writers | Erica Commanda (Pikwakanagan Algonquin/Ojibway) |
Categories | literary magazine |
Format | digital |
Founder | Rebeka Tabobondung and David Shilling |
Founded | 2010 |
First issue | November 15, 2010 |
Country | Canada |
Based in | Toronto, Ontario |
Language | English, primarily |
Website | muskratmagazine |
OCLC | 969665888 |
Muskrat Magazine is an online Indigenous literary, art, and culture publication, published in Toronto. It includes profiles of Indigenous peoples engaged in the arts including literature, film, music, and visual and performing arts.
The publication's name was inspired by the central role of the muskrat in a creation story re-told by Anishnabe storyteller Basil H. Johnston (Wasauksing Ojibway) in his work Ojibway Heritage. [1]
Muskrat Magazine was established by Rebeka Tabobondung [2] (Wasauksing Ojibway) and David Shilling [3] (Ojibway). The founding editor was author Cherie Dimaline (Métis). [4]
The online publication was launched in November 2010, with Tabobondung and Shilling working from their Beverley Street apartment in Toronto. Tabobondung has stated that one of the goals for Muskrat is to explore the history and culture of Canadian Indigenous people in urban cities, where more than 50 percent now live. She and Shilling are cofounders of Maaiingan Productions, a collective of Aboriginal writers and commercial artists who work for a range of corporate and nonprofit clients. Tabobondung and Shilling felt there was a need to start their own publication when one of Maaiingan's clients, the Toronto Native publication Spirit magazine folded in 2008. [5]
Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD U, is a public art university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its main campus is located within Toronto's Grange Park and Entertainment District neighbourhoods.
Drew Hayden Taylor is an Indigenous Canadian playwright, author and journalist.
Joseph Boyden is a Canadian novelist and short story writer. He is best known for writing about First Nations culture. Three Day Road, a novel about two Cree soldiers serving in the Canadian military during World War I, was inspired by Ojibwa Francis Pegahmagabow, the legendary First World War sniper. Joseph Boyden's second novel, Through Black Spruce, follows the story of Will, son of one of the characters in Three Day Road. The third novel in the Bird family trilogy was published in 2013 as The Orenda.
Basil H. Johnston was an Anishinaabe (Ojibwa) and Canadian writer, storyteller, language teacher and scholar.
Rebecca Belmore is a Canadian interdisciplinary Anishinaabekwe artist who is notable for politically conscious and socially aware performance and installation work. She is Ojibwe and a member of Obishikokaang. Belmore currently lives in Toronto, Ontario.
Anita E. Kunz, OC, DFA, RCA is a Canadian-born artist and illustrator. She was the first woman and first Canadian to have a solo exhibit at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
Wasauksing First Nation is an Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi First Nation band government whose reserve is located near Parry Sound in Ontario, Canada.
Christi Marlene Belcourt is a Canadian visual artist and author. She is best known for her acrylic paintings which depict floral patterns inspired by Métis and First Nations historical beadwork art. Belcourt's work often focuses on questions around identity, culture, place and divisions within communities.
Kent Monkman is a Canadian First Nations artist of Cree ancestry. He is a member of the Fisher River band situated in Manitoba's Interlake Region. Monkman lives and works in Toronto, Ontario.
Michelle LaVallee is a Canadian curator, artist, and educator. She is Ojibway and a member of the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation in Cape Croker, Ontario. She has BFA (2000) and BEd (2004) degrees from York University in Toronto.
Skawennati is a First Nations (Kahnawakeronon) multimedia artist, best known for her online works as well as Machinima that explore contemporary Indigenous cultures, and what Indigenous life might look like in futures inspired by science fiction. She served as the 2019 Indigenous Knowledge Holder at McGill University. In 2011, she was awarded an Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship which recognized her as one of "the best and most relevant native artists."
Cheryl L'Hirondelle is a Canadian multidisciplinary media artist, performer, and award-winning musician. She is of Métis/Cree (non-status/treaty), French, German, and Polish descent. Her work is tied to her cultural heritage. She explores a Cree worldview or nêhiyawin through body, mind, emotions, and spirit; examining what it means to live in contemporary space and time.
Indigenous peoples of Canada are culturally diverse. Each group has its own literature, language and culture. The term "Indigenous literature" therefore can be misleading. As writer Jeannette Armstrong states in one interview, "I would stay away from the idea of "Native" literature, there is no such thing. There is Mohawk literature, there is Okanagan literature, but there is no generic Native in Canada".
Cherie Dimaline is writer and a member of the Georgian Bay Métis Council of the Métis Nation of Ontario. She is most notable for her 2017 young adult novel The Marrow Thieves, which explores the continued colonial exploitation of Indigenous peoples.
Cheyanne Turions, self-styled as cheyanne turions, is a Canadian art curator, artist, and writer.
Ociciwan Contemporary Art Collective is a Canadian artist collective based in Edmonton, Alberta with a mandate to develop innovative and experimental projects involving Indigenous artists.
Barry Ace is a First Nations sculptor, installation artist, photographer, multimedia artist, and curator from Sudbury, Ontario, who lives in Ottawa. He is Odawa, an Anishinaabe people, and belongs to the M'Chigeeng First Nation.
Tsēma Igharas, formerly known as Tamara Skubovius, is an interdisciplinary artist and member of the Tāłtān First Nation based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Igharas uses Potlatch methodology in making art, to assert the relationships between bodies and the world, and to challenge colonial systems of value and measurement of land and resources.
Waubgeshig Isaac Rice is an Anishinaabe writer and journalist from the Wasauksing First Nation near Parry Sound, Ontario. Rice has been recognized for his work throughout Canada, including an appearance at Wordfest's 2018 Indigenous Voices Showcase in Calgary.
Chief Lady Bird is a Chippewa and Potawatomi artist, illustrator, educator and community activist from Rama First Nation and Moosedeer Point First Nation, who currently resides in Toronto, Ontario. Chief Lady Bird (Ogimaakwebnes) is her spirit name, which she uses professionally as an artist. Her art is focused on foregrounding the experiences of Indigenous women.