Lana Whiskeyjack

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First and foremost, "nîya ayisiyiniw ôma ohci asiskiy (I am a human of this earth)." 

Lana Whiskeyjack is nehiyaw treaty band member from from Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Treaty Six, Alberta. She has been described as a visual storyteller, scholartist, and arts actionist. She is a multidisciplinary artist, scholar, and author, now based in amiskwaciy waskahikan, Edmonton.  Her current research project explores ancestral wisdom and  issues around the theme of (re)connecting to the spirit of nêhiyawêwin (Cree language), nêhiyaw gender worldviews, and the iskwew (woman) body relation to the cosmic and earth within 13 moon teachings through arts-based practices. She is featured in a documentary about confronting and transcending historical trauma through her arts-based practice titled, “Lana Gets Her Talk” (2017).

Whiskeyjack received her Art and Design diploma from Red Deer College, now called Red Deer Polytechnic,   Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts degree in Canadian Studies. Her education continued with a doctorate degree at the University nuhelot’įne thaiyots’į nistameyimâkanak Blue Quills (Blue Quills University) where she also taught for over 12  years. She is currently an associate professor in the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta, co-founder of okimaw kihew mekwanak (Indigenous Parents and Friends of Lesbian and Gays),  and is co-owner of Whiskeyjack Art House, located in Edmonton.

Research and teaching expertise in Indigenous community engagement and arts-based practices; arts as ceremony and pedagogy; examination of and use of Indigenous knowledge and nehiyawewin; digital storytelling; nehiyaw diverse genders; iskwewewin (Cree womanhood) sexual health, decolonizing sexuality, body sovereignty, and wellbeing; Indigenous women’s economic security and wellness; Indigenous ethics, including ethical relationality, reciprocity, kinship, and ceremonial protocols.