Opening Weekend Performance: Gichigami by Rebecca Belmore

Claudia Skunk is an Anishinaabe producer with Swampy Cree family lineage, from Mishkeegogamang First Nation, based in Toronto. Producing in film and television since 2022—and five years previously at imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival—Claudia brings a deep commitment to Indigenous storytelling and narrative sovereignty.

Dehmin Osawamick Cleland, Ojibwe and Odawa from the Wikwemikong (Bay of Beavers) reserve of Manitoulin Island, currently resides on Tkaronto. Born as an Anishnaabaekwe with traditional teachings, her work reflects this with floral designs and beadwork. Creating for self-healing and pride for anishnaabaekwesauk.

Folashade Kortee is a Tkaronto-based singer-songwriter, traditional hand drum carrier, and Registered Social Worker. She holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Toronto. Rooted in her matrilineal Métis-Cree heritage (Kâ-ministiko-minahikoskâhk / Cumberland House, SK) and Nigerian lineage, her practice integrates cultural teachings, storytelling, and embodied care. She is honoured to collaborate as a performer in Rebecca Belmore’s Gichigami for the 2026 Toronto Biennial of Art.

Kalianna Thom (she/her) is a 19-year-old actor and proud Peepeekisis Cree Nation member studying Drama and Political Science at the University of Toronto. Acting on stage since the age of twelve, Kalianna brings a strong passion for Indigenous storytelling to the stage, screen, and television. Kalianna is delighted to be making her professional debut in Rebecca Belmore’s Gichigami (2026).

Lak Williams (they/them) is Anishinaabek from Treaty 3. They are a member of Asubpeeschoseewagong Netum Anishinaabek (Grassy Narrows First Nation) and the Caribou clan. They are an Indigiqueer artist, performer, and advocate who prioritizes grassroots community work. Their guiding motto of ‘community over commodity’ has led them to community organizing spaces, including workshops on harm reduction, expression through zine and button making, as well as a number of demonstrations for land and water protection, 2SLGBTQIA advocacy, and international solidarity. Lak performs to express autonomy, reclamation, and liberation as a 2-Spirit being.

Baashkaabigoni n’dizhnikaaz. Migizi n’doodem. Wiikwemkoong miinwa Mitchikanibikok Inik n’doonjibaa. Odaawe miinwaa bodéwadmi anishinaabe n’daaw. omàmìwininì anicinape n’daaw. Niizh manidookwe n’daaw. Niin mazinibii’igewinini. Ni-bami’iwe.

Mary Ann Maiangowi-Manatch is an emerging Odawa Potawatomi (Wiikwemkoong) & Algonquin (Mitchikanibikok Inik) artist, a friend, and a protector of the earth. Practising on Anishinabeg territory alongside the land, Mary Ann specializes in birch bark work, brain hide tanning, and acrylic and oil paintings. Mary Ann’s work focuses on healing and ancestral knowledge pulling from her life experiences to create culturally significant pieces that help discuss Indigenous issues as well as Anishinabek pedagogies. She is an advocate for Land-Based Learning initiatives and the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge into education. Mary Ann also works closely with Anishinabek youth, allowing them to experience the land as she does.

Mary Ann holds a Fine Arts diploma from Centennial College. Mary Ann has been a three time participant with Ngig Indigenous Regalia Residency with OCADu and has also completed three traditional hide tanning camps with Niizh Manidook Hide Camp, and apprenticing in more recent years. She has assisted in facilitating camps with Endaayaan Awejaa and Crow Shield Lodge. In the summer of 2023, Mary Ann became a Youth Ambassador with the The Kickback Foundation and the Toronto Raptors.

Mary Ann is currently completing her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Indigenous Visual Culture at the Ontario College of Art and Design University.

Rebecca Belmore (b. 1960, Anishinaabe) creates sculpture, installation, video, photography and performance. Central to her work is the body in relation to history, place and Indigeneity. Recent monographic exhibitions include Turbulent Water, Griffith University, Brisbane; and Facing the Monumental, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Recent major international exhibitions include the 2022 Whitney Biennial, 2019 Istanbul Biennial, and documenta 14. Belmore has been awarded the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts and the Gershon Iskowitz Prize, among many others. She holds honorary doctorates from Université Laval, Quebec City; Nova Scotia College of Art and Design; Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Vancouver; and Ontario College of Art & Design University, Toronto.