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THE ABORIGINAL MEDIA LAB

Reflecting on the traditional role of storytellers and artists in our communities, the Aboriginal Media Lab merges art,
scholarly research and media to contribute to the strength of Aboriginal cultures and to help build inclusive communities,
where all individuals are valued and have the resources to live creative, purposeful lives.

The Aboriginal Media Lab provides environments to foster innovation in the area of academic research, media exploration
and community-development. The AML promotes understanding of Aboriginal knowledge by encouraging Aboriginal-based
ideas, research methodologies and new media tools ensuring we all have a stake in how our knowledge is maintained, reframed,
seeded, grown, asserted and shared.

Through think-tanks, research projects, new media experiments, media productions, journals and other means of exchange and
communications, the Aboriginal Media Lab (AML) seeks to inspire new relationships in the production and analysis of Aboriginal
knowledge, history and media.

DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS

	Strong Words Words have power. Throughout Turtle Island, poets and poetry were important for everything from celebrations to conflict resolution - and even peacemaking. Aboriginal poetry is also a witness and site of resistance to the legacy of colonialism and ongoing neo-colonial aggression. Here, we examined the role of poetry in the telling of personal, community and political histories. Our Poet-in-Resident Researcher: Vera Manuel.
	Protocols The AML implemented a Knowledge Protocol Research Project to explore issues raised when representing, researching and experiencing Aboriginal knowledge in media production and scholarship. If academic enquiry and media are ways knowledge is shared and exchanged, how do we proceed with the gathering, interpretation and documentation of Aboriginal knowledge?
	Experiencing Stories Storytelling is vital to preserving and revitalizing indigenous knowledge and history. Stories have the power to remind our people and to enlighten others about who we are. The way stories are told are critical to the content of the stories themselves. This is an experimental storytelling documentary by Beth Aileen Lameman and Marlon Lameman. Storyscapes Storyscapes is a community arts project that creates opportunities to tell Aboriginal stories and histories of Vancouver through video, text, public art, and more. The AML partnered with Storyscapes, which in turn works with various communities, organizations and artists. Storyscapes Creative Director: Kamala Todd-Darrell
	Dressing Up Indian The artifacts of North American white society range from baseball memorabilia to celebrity minutiae, objects of warfare to obsolete technology. They also include kitsch objects of “Native Indian” imagery – ranging from salt and pepper shakers to whole “teepee” motels. No doubt, popular culture, mass production and mass communications have help “define” the manufactured image of “Native Indian”, what visual artist Judy Chartrand calls racist collectibles. Chartrand has collected over 200 of these collectables and she writes about what they mean to her and her art practice.
	Satire and Humour Humour is but one defining characteristics of Native reality and expression. However, some have wondered if Native humour has become its own stereotype that narrowly defines who we are. Could Native humour be used by mainstream media as a way of masking racism? Have Aboriginal artists shifted and subverted those stereotypes? How has satire served in decolonization and resistance? How have past expressions of Native humour in media affected the context of Native media today? This think-tank was about the Funny in Aboriginal media, especially the first works.
	Techno Medicine Wheel Techno Medicine Wheel is an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) that puts players in the role of healing themselves and the traditional Indigenous territories in and around Vancouver, British Columbia by experiencing Aboriginal values of spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical health. TMW builds on the Indigenous Plant Knowledge of Ceas Wyss. For additional projects click here.