Chataya Holy Singer is a Kainai Blackfoot interdisciplinary artist working with both traditional and contemporary mediums including photography, digital media, painting, drawing, performance, beading and sewing. Her work addresses identity, spirituality, language, and traditional knowledge by integrating her Indigenous worldview with a contemporary perspective. Holy Singer is deeply passionate about her Blackfoot roots. Her practice weaves concepts of the past and present as a tool to preserve her culture for the future. Holy Singer achieves this through acts of resilience, decolonization, revitalization, and reclaiming what has been taken away from her ancestors. She aims to “break the cycle” of intergenerational trauma while navigating through a Eurocentric society with an Indigenous lens. Holy Singer is a strong advocate for education, encouraging the youth to continue bridging the gaps left by historical trauma. Her inspiration derives from her strength to carry on the traditional ways of life, supported by her art, and surviving through blood memory.
Holy Singer’s exhibition, No’tsiitsi – My Hands, is on view at the Gallery until April 23, 2023.
photo by Angeline Simon