The project employed four artists in total, two of whom are from Fort Liard...
Fort Liard actor, artist, and animator Stevie Nande is in Fort Nelson, B.C., and was part of the now existing Northwestel-sponsored truth and reconciliation-themed mural.
Nande, who is Akaitcho Dene, says it means a great deal to him to be creating art like this and collaborating with other Indigenous artists.
“It means a lot, especially [having] just moved into the community,” he said. “It was kind of a big deal for me because it was an opportunity to connect with the community. It feels pretty good."
The mural, commissioned by Northwestel and organized by Fort Nelson Arts Council director Francine Wedrat, showcases themes of technology and truth and reconciliation, which Nande says the group of artists came up with themselves.
“They hired our team to come and paint the Northwestel building,” he said. “They wanted their building painted as something Indigenous-themed, and we came up with a theme of truth and reconciliation needing technology.”
The mural features Indigenous icons such as drummers, dancers, canoeists and various wild animals. It also includes abstract representations of fibre optic cables, as a nod to Northwestel.
Nande says he and the other artist were strangers when they met, but that they got acquainted through their artwork.
“The ideas we had were all different, but kind of similar. We took everyone’s ideas and we combined it into one, and that’s how we came up with this mural,” he said of the collaborative process.
Nande recently moved to Fort Nelson on a temporary basis so he could participate in the mural project, after having lived in Vancouver for several years to pursue acting and film at the Vancouver Academy of Dramatic Arts.
He says he’s always been interested in the arts, and grew up in a family of artistically-minded people.
“I feel like that world, that’s what I was born into, as far back as I can remember,” he said. “My parents are both artists. My mom, she’s done birchbark baskets throughout her whole life, and my dad, he makes birchbark canoes.”
Nande began his artistic endeavours with traditional, cultural art, painting and drawing, and eventually his work “snowballed” into film, animation and acting.
He has acted in television shows such as Netflix’s live-action remake of Avatar: The Last Airbender and short films, such as Uncle Lyle. He also teaches filmmaking and stop-motion animation to high school and elementary students online.
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