Authentic Indian Standing Tall

Yesterday I had an opportunity to attend a conference on Aboriginal Arts: Engaging Authenticity. It was held at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. It was a presentation of the New Sun Chair in Aboriginal Art and Culture.

Among several thoughts to ponder during this conference was reflected in a most important question, that of: “Who are the gatekeepers of Aboriginal artistic legitimacy, and how does their endorsement, or disapproval, affect our understanding and experience of indigenous aesthetic phenomena?”

Major presenters were:
Literary Arts: Maria Campbell, University of Saskatchewan.
Performing Arts: Jani Lauzon, University of Toronto.
Visual Arts: Ron Noganosh, multi-media sculptor and painter, Ottawa.
Media Arts: Jason Ryle, chair, Board of Directors, imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival,Toronto.
Culinary Arts: Phoebe and Warren Sutherland, chef/owners, Sweetgrass Aboriginal
Bistro, Ottawa.

Websites: New Sun Chair in Aboriginal Art and Culture: www.trickstershift.com
Jani Lauzon: www.janilauzon.com
Jason Ryle: www.imaginenative.org
Phoebe and Warren Sutherland: www.sweetgrassbistro.com

Standing tall was mentioned a few times during the conference so I decided to write a few words about that topic.

Authentic Indian Standing Tall.

Authentic Indian, stand tall to be counted. Stand tall with your self-respect and dignity. Stand tall before your family and friends in your respect of nature. Stand tall in your respect of your culture, your spiritualism, justice, creativity, music, art, literature, sports, history and all those things that might define you as Native. Stand tall against racists and those detractors who show no respect for other human beings. Stand tall in your love, respect and appreciation of humanity. Stand tall with your ability to guide youth for they will learn, in their turn, to stand tall.

Authentic Indian, stand tall for you know who you are!