Photo credit: None
Chris Ross
At 15 years old, Chris Ross started his first magazine, GenX. It became Canada’s first ever national Indigenous youth magazine. Through the years, the magazine would change its name to RezX, eventually morphing into a community television show by the same name which is currently produced by AccessNOW. Through this journey in media, Ross has also written for various Indigenous publications and mainstream newspapers, while becoming a filmmaker and freelance videographer working on various projects.
Photo credit: Honouring Neil Stonechild, Kevin Wesaquate, 2021
Kevin Wesaquate
Kevin Wesaquate is a multidisciplinary Indigenous Arts Leader at Saskatoon Community Youth Arts Programming (SCYAP). He is also working remotely from his home studio as a Virtual Artist Teacher for Northern communities for the Taking IT Global, Connected North program. Kevin is the founder of the Indigenous Poetry Society. Kevin has represented Saskatoon at the Canadian Individual Slam in Vancouver and has also participated for the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word. He is from Piapot First Nation. where he learned the value of a community. Sahkihitok (love one another).
Kevin ‘POETIK’ Wesaquate
“…carries the responsibilities of oral traditions…” - Chris Ross
Kevin Wesaquate is an emerging Indigenous artist and poet who I am proud to call my friend. A few years ago, he started his own organization called the Indigenous Poets Society, which has since grown into a nationally recognized Indigenous arts collective and is quickly gaining ground. As a poet, he carries the responsibilities of oral traditions, because it is rooted in Indigenous oral storytelling. I believe poetry is the strongest and most precious media because of its connection to our traditions and Kevin is leading by example and keeping it alive!
As an artist, Kevin has emerged as an in-demand and reputable Indigenous artist who has been hired to paint murals and artwork for various clients and organizations across Canada. He is very passionate about his artwork and how it reflects Indigenous people and the struggles they face in society, along showing the pride we have in ourselves as a community when we come together.
He is the kind of the artist who is very respected and humble who I think deserves all the recognition and accolades for his work. He is also a family man, who works tirelessly on his artwork and poetry to provide for his family and is one of the very few Indigenous artists who can do this. But he can only continue if he can grow with support, and we as a community need to support artists like him who have all the good intentions in the world to provide and express.