# Arielle Twist

Arielle Twist is a Nehiyaw (Cree) multidisciplinary artist and sex educator based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. She is originally from George Gordon First Nation in Saskatchewan. and describes herself as a Two-Spirit, transgender woman. She was mentored in her early career by the writer Kai Cheng Thom. After publishing a poetry collection, Disintegrate / Dissociate, in 2019, she began working as a sex educator at Venus Envy and become an MFA candidate at OCAD University Graduate Studies in the Interdisciplinary Art, Media and Design programme. She has also worked in visual and performance art. The institutions that feature in Twist's curriculum vitae include the Khyber Centre for the Arts, the Toronto Media Arts Centre, La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse, the Centre for Art Tapes, the Art Gallery of Mississauga, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and the Agnes Etherington Art Centre. Twist won the Indigenous Voices Award for English poetry and the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for emerging LGBTQ writers in 2020.

## Career
### Writing

Arielle Twist began writing in 2017 after being encouraged by her mentor Kai Cheng Thom whom she met at Thom’s book launch at Venus Envy. Twist went on to publish the essay "What It's Like to Be a Native Trans Woman on Thanksgiving" in Them on November 23, 2017. After their publishing debut, Twist went on to perform her first poetry reading at Venus Envy alongside her mentor. She also attended the Naked Heart festival in Toronto and began a residency at the Banff center where she debuted her first poems. Arielle met Billy-Ray Belcourt during her Banff Centre who guided her through her first manuscript. Twist debuted as an author with a collection of thirty-eight poems in her book Disintegrate / Dissociate published on June 4, 2019 by Arsenal Pulp Press. The book focuses on "human relationships, death, and metamorphosis". Her poems, which have been described as raw, confrontational, and eloquent, examine themes of colonization, kinship, displacement, and transmisogyny. About her writing, Twist states that "It feels like the most vulnerable thing [she has] ever done". Twist says Disintegrate / Dissociate is about "love, loss, and grief" as well as her coping with her trauma through dissociation. The poem "Manifest" in the book was dedicated to editor Billy-Ray Belcourt who also held residency at the Banff Centre while Twist was there. In late 2019, Arielle also contributed to the Together Apart Series. Twist's book publication along with her collection of essays has earned Twist recognition and awards including the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ Emerging Writers from the Writers' Trust of Canada and the Indigenous Voices Award for English poetry in 2020.

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Work | Award | Category | Result |
| 2019 | — | National Magazine Award | — | Shortlisted |
| 2019 | — | Artist Recognition Award Arts Nova Scotia | Indigenous Artist Recognition Award | Won |
| 2019 | — | Pushcart Prize | — | Nominated |
| 2020 | Disintegrate / Dissociate | Dayne Ogilvie Prize | — | Won |
| 2020 | Disintegrate / Dissociate | Indigenous Voices Award | English Poetry | Won |
| 2020 | Disintegrate / Dissociate | Publishing Triangle Award | — | Finalist |

## Published work and exhibitions

| Year | Title | Type |
| 2017 | What It's Like to Be a Native Trans Woman on Thanksgiving Them | Essay |
| 2018 | On Translating the Untranslatable Canadian Art | Essay |
| 2018 | Soakers The Fiddlehead | Poem |
| 2018 | Rework This Magazine | Poem |
| 2018 | Contemporary Poetics of Trans Women of Colour Artists Facilitated by: Kama La Mackerel | Performance |
| 2018 | Vacant Faces Khyber Centre for the Arts | Exhibit |
| 2019 | Disintegrate / Dissociate | Book |
| 2019 | Together Apart Issue 2: Projections | Series |
| 2019 | Poems for Impending Doom – Digital Exhibition Halifax’s Centre for Art Tapes | Exhibit |
| 2019 | Cumming Commons SBC Gallery | Performance |
| 2019 | Split Tooth Canadian Art | Review |
| 2020 | Trancestry Canadian Art | Essay |
| 2020 | Post Emo Theory Canadian Art | Poem |
| 2021 | How streaming video games on Twitch helped me find pure, unapologetic joy in the midst of a pandemic CBC Art | Essay |