Alexa Woloshyn - Curators Statement
Alexa Woloshyn - Curators Statement
Indigenous Futurisms, a term coined by Grace Dillon (Anishinaabe), explore alternative narratives of Indigenous self-determination and decolonization by conceiving of Indigenous-centered futurities. My CAS project examines decolonial visions and praxis in Indigenous Futurist creative work to challenge settler colonial narratives in Pittsburgh and beyond.
Two examples of Indigenous Futurisms came to mind when the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered the university, canceled my project’s spring programming, and isolated me in my house for a still-unspecified duration. The first was Anishinaabe author Waubgeshig Rice’s novel Moon of the Crusted Snow (2018). This piece of Indigenous Futurist speculative fiction immerses us in a small Anishinaabe community that must reckon with a sudden loss of power and communication. The novel is a gripping read that reveals Anishinaabe lifeways, critiques settler colonialism, and recalls long histories of resistance and resilience. One of the novel’s most potent themes is community and kinship (human and more-than-human) in Indigenous survivance (a concept from Anishinaabe scholar Gerald Vizenor).
Image: “My Heart is in Pittsburgh” by Morgan Overton