Indigenous Art Intensive 2023: Keynote with Dion Kaszas and Artist Talk with Krista Belle Stewart

The annual Indigenous Art Intensive gathers artists, curators, writers and scholars to engage in contemporary ideas rooted in Indigenous art-making.

Join us at the University Theatre on Wednesday, May 24 from 12:00 to 1:00 PM for a keynote address by Dion Kaszas and from 1:30 to 2:30 PM for an artist talk with Krista Belle Stewart, facilitated by Tania Willard.

About the Artists:

Dion Kaszas is a Nlaka’pamux cultural tattoo practitioner and a leader in the revival of Indigenous tattooing in Canada. He has been tattooing professionally since 2009 and started the revival of Nlaka’pamux tattooing in 2012. Dion travels to National and International events, conferences, and tattoo festivals representing Nlaka’pamux and Indigenous tattooing in Canada.

He specializes in Blackwork with an emphasis on traditional hand tattooing techniques. These include hand poke and skin stitch tattooing methods which arise from his Nlaka’pamux culture. He has had the honor of assisting in the revival of Indigenous tattooing across Turtle Island (North America).

Dion’s passion for tattooing extends beyond his artistic work into the successful completion of his Master’s degree in Indigenous Studies at the University of British Columbia Okanagan. His continued area of research is Indigenous tattooing, focusing keenly on the revival of Indigenous peoples’ tattooing practices, using Indigenous and Creative research methodologies. Since his graduation, Dion has contributed to a variety of publications and exhibitions as an author, editor, curator, and consultant.

Krista Belle Stewart (b. 1979, Syilx Nation; lives in Berlin and Vienna) is a citizen of the Syilx Nation. She works primarily with video, photography, sculpture, and performance, drawing out personal and political narratives inherent in archival materials while questioning their articulation in institutional histories. She has had solo exhibitions at Goethe Institut, Seattle; Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto; Nanaimo Art Gallery, BC; Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin; Teck Gallery at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver; and Mercer Union as part of the 28th Images Festival, Toronto. Group exhibitions include Kunstverein, Hamburg; Eva International, Limerick; Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm; CTM Festival, Berlin; International Studio & Curatorial Program, Brooklyn; Musée d’Art Contemporain, Montreal; and Vancouver Art Gallery. Screenings and performances include MoMA’s Doc Fortnight, New York; UnionDocs, Brooklyn; 221A, Vancouver; Plug-In Institute, Winnipeg; and Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin. Her work is currently part of Galerie Barbara Thumm’s online platform New Viewings. She is an MFA graduate from the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College and is presently a PhD in practice candidate at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna.