No Borders Art Festival 2021 Global Panel Discussion

Mary Modeen – Scotland

University of Dundee, Duncan of JordanstoneCollege of Art & Design, Faculty Member 

Chair of Interdisciplinary Art Practice, and Associate Dean International 

Professor Mary Modeen is an artist, academic, interdisciplinary scholar, writer, teacher and most of all, connection-maker across the world. She bridges disciplines in her own work and has done so throughout her life. Her research outputs feature two types of work: creative outputs exhibited worldwide as artworks in printmaking, artist books, and installations, with illustrated lectures, and the secondly, as academic publications in books, chapters and journal articles. She is a dual UK/USA national, with ancestry of Ojibwe and Scandinavian origins.

Supervisor to 9 PhD students currently, and PhD External Examiner internationally.

Laura Donkers – New Zealand

I am a practicing eco-social, multi-media artist whose work is rooted in the idea of co-creativity, working intra-actively with communities and environments. The work focuses on understanding human and nonhuman agency. I conduct place-based research to read and respond to the environment through text, printing and drawing, in collaboration with human-and-nonhuman makers, as embodied ways of knowing place. A slow method of understanding landscape, place and environment emerges that brings poetic insights on nature, culture and ethics.

I have been based for 30 years in the Outer Hebrides, UK, as a horticulturalist, artist and researcher, and completed a Practice-led PhD in Contemporary Art Practices at the University of Dundee. This work explored collaborative artistic co-creative methods to strategically promote eco-social regeneration for small island communities, and included research visits to University of Auckland, Aotearoa/ NZ, to gain theoretical underpinning knowledge on indigenous embodied knowledges, such as KaupapaMaori Theory. Having completed this research, I want to continue to develop creative and collaborative methodologies within ecological and human communities to connect the public with environmental and climate change matters, while expanding artist’ agency and impact on society at this time of ecological crisis. Post-doctoral research explores new roles that artists can play in generating beneficial eco-social changes through working with both community and place-based knowledges, influenced by indigenous knowledge systems.
Supervisors: Professor Mary Modeen and Dr Iain BIggs

Chiara Ministrelli – England

London Collage Of Communication, School of Media, Faculty Member I have a passion for social justice and my commitment to equality informs my academic practice. My research focuses on decolonising methods and Indigeneity, Indigenous modernity, critical race theory, identity, culture and transcultural connections, popular culture and music (Hip Hop in particular). My main objective is to create platforms in order to facilitate knowledge exchange and collaborations between Academia and local communities.

Brianna Palmer – Turtle Island 

Associate Professor, School of the Arts
Faculty of Humanities, McMaster University

Carmel Whittle – Turtle Island

Carmel Whittle is an accomplished Irish, Mik’maq visual artist, musician and song writer, educator and Independent filmmaker hailing from Newfoundland – a province whose harsh beauty and strong people have moulded her into an artist with a deep understanding of the struggle that Indigenous people in this country are going through. Her work as a cultural community artist and Indigenous liaison supports her striving and thriving in decolonized community arts, and she has animated discussion groups specific to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls To Action in the arts. She is founder of the Indigenous Artists Coalition and project manager of the Thunderbird Sisters Collective. A recent community project includes the No Borders Art Festival, developed, co-directed and co-curated with the Indigenous Artists Coalition and The Thunderbird Sisters Collective in collaboration with community partners Saw Video, Artengine, G101, and the Eagle & Condor Collective.

Patsea Griffin – Turtle Island

Born and raised on her ancestral land along the Kichi Sibi (Ottawa River) on unceded Algonquin territory, Patsea is a special blend of many bloodlines including Ontario Métis.

She is the founder and executive director of The Thunderbird Sisters Collective, a non-profit organization dedicated to highlighting the art and skills of indigenous youth/artists. She is also co-director of the No Borders Art Festival and co-organizer of the 2021 Women+ Arts Festival. She is facilitator of the weekly beading group ‘Beading with Patsea! Artist. Beadworker. Poet. Drummer. Singer. Dreamer. ‘My art keeps me connected to nature, my mother, and all my relations in the spirit world.’

Moderator – Rob Snikkar – Turtle Island

I have no MFA – I make art