Ociciwan x Evan Matchett-Wong
Based in the region of amiskwacîwâskahikan [Edmonton], Alberta, Ociciwan Contemporary Art Collective supports the work of Indigenous contemporary artists and designers and engages in contemporary critical dialogue, valuing artistic collaboration and fostering awareness of Indigenous contemporary art practices.
ociciwan.ca
Evan Matchett-Wong is a Chinese-Dene-Irish artist born and raised in Amiskwaciwâskahikan with their five other siblings. Their father is from Hong Kong, and their mother was born in Treaty 3 territory in a small town, but their maternal grandmother is from Cold Lake in Treaty 6, who was a survivor of residential schooling.
They are a self-taught and practiced artist who specializes in hand embroidery and watercolour. Evan actively works to bring in their Chinese and Indigenous heritage into their artwork and into spaces, normally queer, where Chinese and Indigenous voices and bodies are purposefully excluded. Their framework for their artistic process is to be inclusive of diversity, yet critical of spaces that are inclusive by name only. Although not formally trained, Evan pursued creative endeavors and artistic ventures during their spare time while they finished schooling in psychology and then public health.
They are a self-taught and practiced artist who specializes in hand embroidery and watercolour. Evan actively works to bring in their Chinese and Indigenous heritage into their artwork and into spaces, normally queer, where Chinese and Indigenous voices and bodies are purposefully excluded. Their framework for their artistic process is to be inclusive of diversity, yet critical of spaces that are inclusive by name only. Although not formally trained, Evan pursued creative endeavors and artistic ventures during their spare time while they finished schooling in psychology and then public health.
AJA Louden is a muralist working out of Treaty 6 territory in Canada. Born to a family tree with roots split between Jamaica and Canada, Louden is a child of contrast. He grew up in a rural community near a big city, and alternated his time between skateboarding, drawing, and feeding livestock. Between large spray-painted portraits, his work using hand lettering, stylewriting and sign painting to celebrate the beauty of written word, or his frequent community-centered collaborations, AJA uses painting as a lens through which he may more clearly see, and as a tool to help others be seen.