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<\/a>\u201cI think the labels are an entry point for non-Indigenous people, but I think it\u2019s also an entry point for Indigenous people, and I think that there is a little bit of play there. I think on the one hand it\u2019s like actually talking within this western theoretical mindset and the other part of it, I think, it\u2019s also allowing Indigenous people into that conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Navigating multiple identities, Din\u00e9Yazhi\u00b4 is trying to find a balance between two worlds. Din\u00e9Yazhi\u00b4 admits that they don\u2019t feel very supported within Indigenous art communities, attributing some of this lack of acceptance to the way their art \u201crefuses to work within this idea of traditional Indigenous art.\u201d Similarly, they don\u2019t always find the support they are looking for within the LGBTQ+ community, either.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know how much the queer community cares or even thinks about Indigenous people,\u201d they say. \u201cI know there are some people within the community that do hold space for that, but within a larger context, I don\u2019t think the queer community [supports] the Indigenous community as much as it could.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On Friday, October 12, Din\u00e9Yazhi\u00b4 will be performing their poem \u201cAn Infected Sunset\u201d here in Victoria. Within this piece, they examine the ways in which nature landscapes are interpreted. They \u201cplay a little bit with an alternative view of the sunset from an Indigenous perspective in a post-apocalyptic landscape,\u201d says Din\u00e9Yazhi\u00b4.<\/p>\n Through their art, Din\u00e9Yazhi\u00b4 encourages us to think about the ways in which we talk about both\u00a0 <\/span>Indigenous activism and ways of being.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that word, \u2018activism,\u2019 is very complex and perhaps even a little problematic within Indigenous communities,\u201d they say. \u201cI don\u2019t think that we have necessarily had any other option than to be activists, and I think our activism is tied mostly to our will and desire to both survive but also to sustain our cultures and languages. So I think it\u2019s challenging within a western perspective, because our activism is just tied to taking care of the Earth; it\u2019s just tied to basic human relationships with the planet that we live on. I don\u2019t think that within an Indigenous practice or an Indigenous mentality or philosophy those things are radical notions, but when you get western civilization and white-settler, colonial, hetero-patriarchal, white-supremacist social structures and power structures coming into direct contact with Indigenous people, then it turns into this really radical idea. But, really, it\u2019s so much embedded into our ceremony and ways of being.\u201d<\/p>\n