Tsēmā Igharas
Tsēma Igharas, formerly known as Tamara Skubovius, is an interdisciplinary artist and member of the Tāłtān First Nation based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Igharas uses Potlatch methodology in making art, to assert the relationships between bodies and the world, and to challenge colonial systems of value and measurement of land and resources. Early life and education. Igharas was raised in Smithers, British Columbia, on Tāłtān territory. Igharas earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Emily Carr University of Art and Design in 2011, and went on to receive an Interdisciplinary Master’s in Art, Media, and Design from  OCAD University in 2016, receiving the OCADU President’s Scholarship. For her graduate thesis, Igharas presented "LAND" | "MINE", a materials library which linked bodies and mining sites to the land. In 2005 to 2006, Igharas also attended the Kitinmaax School for Northwest Coast Indian Art at ‘Ksan in Hazelton, BC, which influenced her current Potlatch methodology. Art. Igharas’ practice can be understood through the methodology of Potlatch, a ceremony rooted in reciprocity and nation building. For Igharas, artmaking becomes a “ceremony that affirms and solidifies relationships to every thing and body”. Her conceptual artwork primarily tackles colonial systems of  valuing land and resources, and Western measurements of wealth, and examines the way these systems historically and continue to impact Indigenous lands and cultural practices. Igharas' practice is influenced by Indigenous resistance strategies, familial and embodied knowledge, and acts of decolonization, in order to understand the Canadian imaginary and the impacts of its industrialization; Igharas also aligns with Indigenous Futurisms as a way of understanding our relationship with time and the land. In the exhibition "future generations" at Artspace, Toronto, Igharas examined Indigenous futurity as a means of survival and survivance. Through working with her understandings of Tāłtān traditions, and  objects and materials rooted in Western settler culture, Igharas presented strategies and gestures of resistance against neo-colonization, and imagined futures of Indigenous peoples. The series and workshop "Riot Rock Rattles" at the Gardiner Museum, Toronto, continues Igharas’ examination of the material relationships between the body and the land. In the workshop, participants build and engage with Igharas’ “riot rocks” - rocks imbued with materials of cultural, industrial, and resistive significance - in order to communally practice Indigenous methodologies and gain an awareness of the connections between body and land. Selected exhibitions. Igharas has exhibited across Canada and internationally, in places such  as Chiapas, Mexico; Asheville, USA; and Santiago, Chile. Notable exhibitions include "Interweavings", which featured emerging First Nations artists who had won the YVR Art Foundation scholarship; the "Contemporary Native Art Biennial: Culture Shift" in Montreal; and the Luminato Festival in Toronto. Igharas is also a member and representative of ReMatriate Collective. Awards. 2006, '08. YVR Art Foundation Scholarship / YVR Art Foundation Scholarship Emily Carr University Collaboration Scholarship 2010. Alberta Centennial Award 2013. First Peoples Cultural Counsel Individual Artist Award 2014. President’s Scholarship, Entrance scholarship to OCAD University 2015. OCAD President’s Scholarship 2016. Banff Centre For the Arts Financial  Assistance 2016. OCAD University Ontario Graduate Scholarship 2016. OAC Exhibition Assistance. Ore Body, Gallery 44, Toronto ON, Canada 2017. YVR Art Foundation Masterpiece Study Grant 2018. Emily Award