8th Fire is a highly anticipated documentary series on CBC TV, Radio & CBC.ca premiering next month. RWS founder & photographer Nadya Kwandibens is featured in Episode 2 “It’s Time” which airs January 19 & 20, 2012: “Nadya Kwandibens is Anishinaabe and French from the Northwest Angle #37 First Nation in Ontario. She is based in Toronto and much of her work explores the identity of urban Aboriginal people as illustrated in her popular Concrete Indians photography series…” [ read more ] www: cbc.ca/doczone/8thfire Facebook: 8thfire Twitter: #8thfirecbc YouTube: CBC Doc Zone: 8th Fire – Preview [ Photo: A video still from Episode 2 “It’s Time” ]
Boozhoo/ Greetings RWS Friends & Fans! Something exciting came in the mail this past week from the fine folks at CTV BC – a DVD copy of the CTV First Story episode Nadya was featured in. Footage in the episode, which was broadcast nationally February 20th, was shot during two visits to Vancouver BC during Nadya’s last Summer/ Fall Tour, then during the 2011 Talking Stick Festival. The episode is also archived online on the CTV website: Watch: CTV First Story Episode Title: “Gateway & Drew Hayden Taylor” Feature Runtime: 6:00 mins Starts @ 17:00 mins Now in its 13th season, CTV First Story features the best stories in art, culture, and people making a difference in Aboriginal Canada. First Story is a proud Winner of two National and Provincial RTNDA Adrienne Clarkson Diversity awards. For more episodes, visit: www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/firststory
Last week, Nadya met with some CBC TV crew for an interview about what it means to be Native and living in a city, such as Toronto. The series of vignettes features urban Aboriginals from across Canada, and originally aired on Tuesday’s episode of Connect with Mark Kelley, April 6th. Watch: Aboriginal Life in the City Runtime: 3:06 mins The features, including some coverage on The National, were launched with the Urban Aboriginal Peoples Study; “researchers interviewed 2,614 status and non-status First Nations, Métis and Inuit people in 11 cities across Canada: Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Ont., Montreal, Toronto, Halifax and Ottawa (Inuit only), between March and October 2009. The study was launched to examine “the attitudes of native Canadians who call the city home.” For more information about the Urban Aboriginal Peoples Study, visit: www.cbc.ca
Last year Nadya was interviewed by the Indigenous Arts Network (IAN), a website that showcases contemporary indigenous art from a wide range of disciplines across Canada, namely theatre, writing, film and video, music, new media, dance, craft/ design, visual art and communication. Other artists featured on the website are: Billy Merasty, Michael Greyeyes, Zacharias Kunuk, Terrance Houle, Tracey Deer and many others. IAN is an initiative of the Association for Native Development in the Performing & Visual Arts (ANDPVA). “Success to me means inspiration, being able to inspire other people. That’s when I know I’ve done my job, and at times it can be draining to have to constantly be that, but you keep going and you keep doing it. Because it is reciprocal, people inspire me to do the work that I do. This land we live in, this city that we live in, the country, you know what I mean? It’s reciprocal, it’s all reciprocal.” Full Interview: indigenousartsnetwork.ca/artists/nadya_kwandibens
