Project Leaders
Dr. Julie Nagam - Project Director
Dr. Julie Nagam (Métis/German/Syrian) is a Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Arts, Collaboration and Digital Media and is an Associate Professor in the department of Art History at the University of Winnipeg. She is the inaugural Artistic Director for 2020/21 for Nuit Blanche Toronto, the largest public exhibition in North America. Dr. Nagam's SSHRC research includes digital makerspaces + incubators, mentorship, digital media + design, international collaborations and place-based knowledge. She is a collective member of GLAM, which works on curatorial activism, Indigenous methodologies, public art, digital technologies, and engagement with place. As a scholar and artist she is interested in revealing the ontology of land, which contains memory, knowledge and living histories. Her artistic work has been exhibited internationally, including in Brazil, France, New Zealand, and England, which includes solo and group exhibitions. Nagam’s scholarship, curatorial and artistic practice has been featured nationally and internationally. She was the Concordia University and Massey University (NZ) Scholar in Residence for 2018/19, and will be the Terra Foundation Visiting Scholar at the University of Sydney (AUS) for 2021-22. Dr. Nagam is the Director of Aabijijiwan New Media Lab and Co-Director of Kishaadigeh Collaborative Research Centre in Winnipeg, Canada.
Dr. Johnson Witehira - Pacific Lead
Kia ora! Ko Johnson Witehira tōku ingoa. Ki te taha tōku whaea, no Whanganui ahau. Ko Tamahaki te iwi, ko Ngāti Hinekura te hapū. Ki te taha tōku matua, No Ngāpuhi ahau. Ko Ngāi Tū-te-auru te hapū. I’m an artist, designer and researcher of Māori and Pākehā (British descent). I’ve been on a journey into Māori art and design since completing my Masters in Graphic Design (2007) and then my Doctorate in Māori visual arts (2013). I spend most of my time thinking about how we, Māori, did things in the past, and how we might apply our mātauranga (knowledge) to contemporary problems. My thoughts and writings on Māori design have been published in some of the worlds leading academic journals and books including; Visible Language (University of Cincinnati), The Graphic Design Reader (Bloomsbury), AIGA Eye on Design (US), Novum (Munich) and Monocle (London).
My kaupapa (mission) as both an artist and designer is to bring Māori visual culture back into the lives of all Māori. This is done through careful consideration of how indigenous culture, design and technology intersect. We once created all the things in our world; the clothes, buildings, vehicles and tools. Nowadays everything is made for us. If we’re lucky we get to decorate. I want to put Māori back in the drivers seat, so we’re active participants in creating the tools and the world we want to live in.
