KEITHA  KEESHIG-TOBIAS   BIIZINDAM -she who listens and learns and uses what she hears 

 

My name is Keitha Keeshig-Tobias Biizindam (She who listens and learns and uses what she hears). I am a multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto, who uses her unique style to reclaim Indigenous science through art and create a world where her children feel safe to be anything they want to be. I love Awakening imaginations of youth, inspiring them to seek out knowledge and truth, finding ways to connect to nature.

I enjoy mixing styles, media, and disciplines. My artworks are filled with ancestral knowledge and imparted in non-conventional traditional way. My work is always to inspire Indigenous Youth to show them how much amazing knowledge is contained in their cultural practices created many I have 18+ murals across the city highlighting Indigenous science and culture; most notably “Anishnaabe Kew’s Dream Catcher” at Ontario Place (featuring southern Ojibwe affirmations, Syllabics the molecular formula of Indigenous Discoveries) and “Wind o Change” on the Toronto Indigenous Centre of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. I have created stunning and educational displays of my artwork for the past 3 yrs at the Indigenous Art Exhibition by Eagle Spirits of the Great Waters held in the Small Arms Inspection Building Mississauga. During April 2020 I also created an Art Crawl along 1 km of Roncesvalles, 19 stores participated by featuring my work in their windows; sparking conversations about the artwork, descriptions, and Indigenous representation in a social distancing manner. This later became a list on Google Maps where one can get direction to view my work such as murals, in store, in galleries or other events.

I have very strong ties to my large family in my home community; with many elders, knowledge keepers, and language speakers. I grew up in Toronto watching my mother and her peers build the Indigenous Arts community in Toronto. I bring forth complex issues and inspiration with beauty and gracefulness in its meanings while expanding out into a variety of media and styles - paintings, murals and jewelry/textile beadwork. I also use my Bachelor of Science from McMaster to highlight Indigenous scientific knowledge in my artwork. I show my artwork in galleries, cultural events and this year Nuit Blanche 2023 in which I will show some of my beadwork art and video