I finally got around to putting together a short film about Native Representations in Video Games. It’s a little bit academic, a little bit presentation, and a little bit my take on things. There is enough content that I could extend this into a documentary as extensive as Reel Injun by adding more footage, interviewing game developers to explore the origin of the representations, and interviewing  Indigenous people who participated in the games as voice over actors. I could also analyze the representations much deeper. As is, it’s a good simple overview to give people information. Read the rest of this entry »

Life has been busy for AbTeC as we prepare for the Skins Summer Institute (SSI) in late July at Concordia University in Montreal. SSI is a two-week intensive workshop for Aboriginal (Indigenous/First Nations/Native) youth that combines instruction in video game design with immersion into Aboriginal stories and storytelling techniques. The workshop covers traditional storytelling as well as important topics in game development including: narrative, art direction, 3D modeling and animation, level design, sound, and programming. Read the rest of this entry »

Finally fed up with the inability of words to capture my interpretation of Native steampunk, I went back to my origins and added a twist. What resulted was an experimental animation made out of imagery that has been in my dreams for a number of years.

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As announced in the prestigious e-flux newsletter, our lovely co-director Skawennati’s work will be on display  at the Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art in Winnipeg. The show’s title is “Close Encounters: The Next 500 Years International Exhibition of Contemporary Indigenous Art” and will be taking place from January 22 to May 11. It also features many other infamous Aboriginal artists such as  KC Adams and Kent Monkman and is curated by AbTec member Steve Loft.

To find out more about the show, please visit http://plugin.org/

Once again, the AbTeC team submitted work into the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival New Media category. And, yet again, we walked away with the “Best New Media” prize! This time for our video game mod project, along side the students of Kahnawake Survival School, entitled “Otsì:!! Rise of the Kanien’kehá:ka Legends”.

Seen here are co-directors Skawennati Fragnito and Jason E. Lewis accepting the award at the closing awards ceremony. For more information of the project, please visit the website http://otsi.abtec.org/ .

Animism, an animation written by Cree filmmaker Kevin Lee Burton and Zeros2Heroes CEO Matt Toner, which I was Story Editor for, is available for viewing at The Gods’ Lake alternate reality game (ARG) website. It’ll only be up for a short while before it airs on APTN in January. Wow, it’s 2011. The first episode is open for anyone to view, and you can watch all six episodes if you create an account.

Animism tells the story of age-old treachery around the Sacred Site of Gods’ Lake, which was fictionalized as an alternate reality, but is based on Kevin Lee Burton’s interpretation of our sacred indigenous lands. Read the rest of this entry »

Through the Looking Glass Self: Group Identity and Avatar Design in Second Life

Colorado State University/ Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Paper presented by Rosa Mikeal Martey and Mia Consalvo

Approaching the podium is a woman with bright pink streaks in her hair, dressed fully in black and with the brisk walk of someone possessing the cool sort of confidence. Automatically, through just her physical appearance and the spotlight setting, we label her as artistic, intelligent, and possibly Goth.  She speaks.  No accent proves a North American upbringing. Closer inspection brings piercings to light, extra layers of eyeliner, and the superior quality of her shirt’s fabric. A rebel? An intellectual? Upper-middle class? We make guesses without even realizing we are doing it. Her statements are digested with certain awareness, a new twist, based on accessories and hair choices and even her title, giving more weight to her speech than the written word alone could ever hope to convey.

It is unfair, biased, and yet completely typical. Read the rest of this entry »

Skawennati, Nancy and I are in Toronto this week, giving a two-day Machinima Workshop as part of imagineNative 2010. We have nine students, invited by iNative to participate, who spent yesterday on a very steep learning curve. Today we’re going to start shooting 3 30 second machinimas to enter into the Machinima Expo promo festival.

Machinima Teaching Sandbox, AbTeC Island (imagineNative 2010)

As I re-evaluate my mama-self for fashion aesthetics in lieu of my Aboriginal steampunk web comic The West Was Lost being exhibited in the New Media category at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival 2010 in Toronto, Ontario, I’ve realized that I’ve lost a lot of who I was/am. Yes, indeed, while living in Vancouver, British Columbia, I was sucked into the world of the yoga bum mom. Horrifying but true. Lululemon, a few basic shirts, and off I went into the world, ready for stains, rough-housing, running, sitting on rain covered swings, you name it. Read the rest of this entry »

I usually measure years by the academic calendar–the beginning of Fall is the start of another year. There’s nothing better than seeing your accomplishments from past years acknowledged in the midst of working on new projects that you’re excited to finish and show. I’m wrapped up with creative work right now and looking forward to imagineNATIVE as a time to unwind and join in on the community experience of watching films and interacting with new media at a festival. Read the rest of this entry »