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Meet the Indigenous artists featured in Telling Our Story

The documentary series features artwork by Eruoma Awashish, Nalakwsis (Saige Mukash) and Prim (Pasa Mangiok).

The documentary series features artwork by Eruoma Awashish, Nalakwsis (Saige Mukash) and Prim (Pasa Mangiok)

CBC Docs ·
Three panels of illustration. On the left, a bear stands on its hind legs with its front legs outstretched; the bear stands in front of a yellow sun on a turquoise backgound. In the middle, an illustration of a women long hair and her eyes closed, her lungs visible. On the right, a woman is surrounded by hands offering items including a fish and fur.
The documentary series Telling Our Story features artwork by Eruoma Awashish, left, Nalakwsis (Saige Mukash), centre, and Prim (Pasa Mangiok), right. (Terre Innue)

Animations and illustrations play a significant role in the documentary series Telling Our Story. Beautiful and insightful, they represent the First Peoples's intangible spiritual world and circular worldview; their visceral connection to the land and all that is alive; and their legends and founding myths. Three artists — Eruoma Awashish, Nalakwsis (Saige Mukash) and Prim (Pasa Mangiok) — created the illustrations, which were then animated by graphic designer Étienne Deslières and his team at DBcom Media.

Telling Our Story, now streaming free on CBC Gem, offers Indigenous perspectives on the past, present and future from the 11 First Peoples whose homelands host Quebec, Labrador, New Brunswick, Ontario and beyond.

Eruoma Awashish

Eruoma Awashish is an Atikamekw Nehirowisiw mother and artist who is committed to her nation. She works in a variety of mediums, including painting, installation, performance, video, silkscreening and traditional dance.

An illustration of a bear standing on its hind legs, with a human standing in front. Both are inside a circle surrounded by leafy vines. The background is purple, pink and orange.
Bears play a central role in Indigenous spiritualities. Many nations respectfully call him nemushum, which means ‘my grandfather.’ Like all living and non-living beings, the bear is a part of a circular worldview. (Eruoma Awashish/Terre Innue)

Her artwork is imbued with spirituality and aims to create spaces for dialogue to foster a better understanding of First Nations cultures. The decolonization of the sacred is at the heart of her practice.

An illustration shows a man and a woman with a baby on her back standing at the edge of a cliff, looking over a forest.
The Innu creation story of Mesh (pronounced and often written ‘Mee’ in Innu) has been passed down orally for thousands of years. The story describes two prehistoric fish, one male and one female, who came out of the water. After a while, they grew legs so they looked like lizards, and together they climbed a tree. When they came down, their bodies were covered in hair and they could walk like humans today. The story shows that Indigenous people understood the concept of evolution. (Eruoma Awashish/Terre Innue)

Awashish grew up in the community of Opitciwan. She is now established in Pekuakami (Lac-Saint-Jean), and her studio is located in the Ilnu community of Mashteuiatsh. She holds an interdisciplinary bachelor of arts from the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi.

An illustration shows a priest in black robes and holding a cross emerging from black waves. Below the waves, hands rise out of the water; white feathers float above the hands.
The Atikamekw refer to priests as ‘the black flame.’ ‘It has to do with our beliefs,’ says Constant Awashish, grand chief of the Atikamekw Nation Council, in Telling Our Story. ‘Initially, we're all sparks which feed off of beautiful, positive things. But unfortunately, our ancestors described priests as those who spawned the black flame, who darken the fire.’ (Eruoma Awashish/Terre Innue)

Nalakwsis (Saige Mukash)

Non-binary artist Saige Mukash (a.k.a. Nalakwsis) is a member of the Cree and Abenaki Nations, and lives in Whapmagoostui, a Cree community of about 1,000 people near Hudson Bay. They are an illustrator, beadwork artist, photographer and writer who focuses on racial, environmental and LGBTQ/two-spirit issues and awareness.

An illustration shows a mother and child sitting with their eyes closed, wrapped in a red blanket.
‘The woman is the Earth. And the woman is the only doorway in which a spirit can come into the world,’ says traditional teacher, ceremonialist, drum keeper and grandmother Edna Manitowabi in Telling Our Story. (Nalakwsis/Terre Innue)

Nalakwsis's grandfather is former grand chief of the Cree Nation Matthew Mukash. The Mukash family is responsible for the spiritual ceremonies at Whapmagoostui, and Nalakwsis's drawings often evoke a supernatural force. Their art is imbued with Cree culture, dreams and legends.

An illustration of black 5 geese flying in the air.
‘My father comes from a lineage of goose hunters. And our belief is that when you’re born a goose hunter, the spirit of the goose will protect you,’ says Matthew Mukash, former grand chief of the Cree Nation in Telling Our Story. ‘It’s food and medicine at the same time. It’s also a reminder that Mother Earth provides whatever it is that we need to survive.’ (Nalakwsis/Terre Innue)
An illustration shows a woman in a red robe looking down. Her hair is white and 4 small white figures rest on her shoulders.
‘It's anger that we have to manage as parents, partners, grandparents and neighbours of Quebecers,” says Senator Michèle Audette in Telling Our Story. ‘We have to remain diplomatic, we always have to educate.… Sometimes, I want to scream, but if I do, I’ll scare people.’ (Nalakwsis/Terre Innue)

Prim (Pasa Mangiok)

Pasa "Prim" Mangiok is a multimedia visual artist originally from Ivujivik, Nunavik, who now lives in Montreal. Her practice includes painting, printmaking, digital art, traditional art and sculpture.

Prim's subject matter varies widely. Recently, she created a collection of digital works focused on contemporary events like the Black Lives Matter movement, the war in Ukraine and the effects of COVID-19 for the virtual exhibition ᓴᓇᓐᖑᐊᓂᑎᒍᑦ ᒪᑭᑕᖃᑎᒌᓐᓂᖅ | Sanannguanitigut Makitaqatigiinniq | Standing Together Through Art | Debout ensemble travers l'art. 

Prim's subject matter varies widely. Recently, she created a collection of digital works focused on contemporary events like the Black Lives Matter movement, the war in Ukraine and the effects of COVID-19 for the virtual exhibition

She is currently working on a series illustrating her emotions, which she completes weekly according to how she is feeling. These pieces vary in style as much as the emotions they portray.

An illustration of a man pulling a tree out of the ground while a pregnant woman watches. There is yellow light coming out of the hole where the tree was. There are blue clouds in the foreground of the illustration.
Kanienʼkehá:ka creation stories are intimately linked to agriculture. A long time ago, the Earth was one great ocean, with a sky world above it. One day, a pregnant woman from that world had a dream in which she was told to make medicine from the roots of the Tree of Life. Her husband dug it up, leaving a big hole in the sky. (Prim/Terre Innue)
An illustration of a pregnant woman in the sky, held up by geese. She is above a giant turtle floating in the sea.
When she bent down to look through the hole, the woman fell into the void. Geese flew toward her to break her fall. They gently placed her on the back of a large turtle that had emerged from the sea. The Sky Woman was happy to be alive. She started to dance in circles, from east to west. And as she danced, she dropped the seeds from the Tree of Life. Each one held seeds from many plants including the three sisters: corn, beans and squash. To this day, the knowledge keepers of the Kanienʼkehá:ka people still grow the three sisters in the same way. (Prim/Terre Innue)

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