Intro

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to further contextualize the exhibition

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adorned at the art gallery of Greater

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Victoria a show of visual bravura to

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present ways and wills to be adorned and

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embellished with cultural Traditions

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ancestral skills and a forecast of

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futurisms the artist in the exhibition

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are Mavericks of design and radical

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thinking the artists conveyed knowledge

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of material to weave rethink reshape

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remix collect collage splice and men to

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produce original works of art and

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fashion we are here at the Queen’s

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theater in downtown Vancouver BC located

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within the unseated ancestral

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territories of the musqueam Squamish and

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sail with tooth to witness the last

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night of the Vancouver indigenous

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Fashion Week 2022 for the spirit of the

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West Coast to bring some recognition to

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indigenous fashion designers and

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Artisans from the northwest coast

Ay Lelum

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[Music]

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so exciting to see you again on the

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runway you’ve been all over the world

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with your clothing line and just want

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first for you to be introduced to

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everyone so elem

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en uh

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awesome

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Anna Lee boydgood

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foreign

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so as I said before we’re really excited

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to be interviewing you and to be here to

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celebrate

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um your line at the Vancouver indigenous

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Fashion Week

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in the last little while and since I’ve

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met you with the adorned exhibition that

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your beautiful work is exhibited in

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you’ve been all over the world can you

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tell some of the places that you’ve that

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your line has traveled to

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uh most recently we actually have come

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back from New York we have been in

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Florida

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Ottawa Ottawa and now we are here at

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Vancouver indigenous fashion week and we

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are so excited to be here

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so how does it feel in terms of being in

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a self-determined indigenous space and

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showing your work in this kind of space

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versus the more altogether diverse

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spaces that you’ve shown in and what

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does this mean to you in terms of

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cultural abundance

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well I I think in looking at our parents

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career in the 90s there wasn’t anything

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like this so when we look at now we fast

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track to all of the amazing designers

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and artists and even performers just to

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see the diversity of indigenous art and

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culture that that is on display I think

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is really amazing

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I think it’s really exciting to see so

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many indigenous groups getting together

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supporting each other lifting each other

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up there is enough space for every one

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of us to be here and we need to share

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that space and we need to acknowledge

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all of the other wonderful designers

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that are here as well and just really

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support each other and uplift each other

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and I think that’s one of the most

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beautiful things that we can do as uh

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Juan wolfimo so First Nations people is

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lift each other up and I think that’s

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going to be the game changer for how

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people see our our clothing designs and

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our art and everything so it’s just

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really exciting and it’s beautiful to

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see what they’ve done here at Vancouver

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edition is Fashion Week

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and like you’ve said it all right there

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I’m very excited again to see your work

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and just one last question do you think

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there’s a Resurgence uh right now I

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think there is definitely a Resurgence

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like what uh when our parents were doing

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fashion shows there was a handful of

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designers and then

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uh there was kind of not too much

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happening for a little while and now

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it’s like it’s booming and you’re seeing

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uh the the children of the designers

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like like my sister and I you’re you’re

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seeing still Dorothy Grant and Pam Baker

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who’ve been working really hard

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tirelessly for many years and then

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you’re seeing everything in between so

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you’re definitely seeing a lot more uh

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contemporary looks modern looks you’re

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seeing mixes together a lot of

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resurgence with reclaiming what belongs

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to you and what you’re allowed to share

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and I think everybody’s doing a really

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good job of doing that Resurgence but

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also sharing beautiful pieces of art

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whether it’s cultural or non-cultural

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so definitely a Resurgence and I I don’t

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think it ever went away I think maybe a

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few things were asleep and now we’re in

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this Reawakening and that’s where that

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Resurgence is coming from is that it was

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always there and it’s stronger so it’s

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really exciting to be a part of that

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I think it’s so important that you said

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reclaim because when you walk through

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museums or hear Elder stories our

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ancestors have been making adornment for

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their family members for time Memorial

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so it’s so wonderful to see uh elalam

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um as a design house that is actually

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carrying that forth and picking up from

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your parents and their parents and their

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parents

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thank you we are excited to be here and

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we’re really excited to share our art

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and we hope you enjoy the show and music

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and music yes more music language

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thank you so much have fun tonight

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[Music]

Joleen Mitton

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uh the absolute Powerhouse behind the

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Vancouver Independence Fashion Week

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um Julian where are you from I was born

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and raised in Vancouver I spent most of

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my life in eastbound but I did grow up

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in Asia for the good portion of my life

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but my tribe is from Alberta I’m Curry

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and you know Urban indigenous person so

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uh what got you into fashion uh actually

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it was by accident

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um I wasn’t chosen to be a model years

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and years ago and then yeah just kind of

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like stuck to it just because it paid

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the bills and got me out of my situation

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something I wasn’t really interested in

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I was going to be a police officer

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that’s what I wanted to be

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um but now I’m here so we’re doing it

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and you’re also a basketball player yes

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yeah well I play for All My Relations

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which you can see on shirt right now

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um we are the champions of the all

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Native basketball tournament uh as of

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right now we’re defending our title in

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February and it’s going to be a big

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situation I think um yeah that’s so

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exciting well

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um I wish you all the best for that

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um you killed it yesterday on the runway

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when someone passed you a basketball and

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you dribbled it on the runway so that

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was kind of amazing to see yeah this is

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like that was impromptu yeah

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well you created such an amazing event I

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think I was almost in tears yesterday

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with just seeing all the beauty

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um that you brought together with the

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designers

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um the models and everyone that came to

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enjoy it this place was packed and so I

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just congratulate you

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um hugely just one more question can you

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talk a little bit about what that means

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in terms of cultural abundance through

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adornment and

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fashion as art hmm like as indigenous

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people I think we’re all super creative

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and I think it’s in our blood it’s in

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our DNA

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um I think when you go to ceremony or

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like I was just adopted into like a

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bella bella family so just watching

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Potlatch and how everyone is distressed

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like to the nines right like you’re

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dressing for the next generation and

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um I think that’s a big part of it uh

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the endorment piece is like loving

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yourself that self-care and like I know

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I kind of dress like a street kid but

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like

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um I do also like to dress up like you

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can see it on the run when I was walking

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I just think that uh yeah I think you’re

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you’re dressing for other people you’re

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dressing for yourself you’re dressing

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for your ancestors and I think that’s a

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big part of Vancouver indigenous fashion

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and proud to be indigenous so

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have to wear indigenous clothing and the

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designers also get to have an indigenous

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model it’s like something special sacred

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yeah

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amazing well thank you for creating this

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self-determined empowered beautiful

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space and I wish you good luck on the

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rest of the all of your endeavors thank

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you

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glitch

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[Music]

JB The First Lady

8:43

hi hey what’s up I’m so excited to be

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interviewing you JB the first lady where

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are you from

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I am from the new health nation which is

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balakula BC and I’m also from Six

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Nations I’m anadaga and I’m wolf Clan

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amazing so you must be excited about

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being here tonight tonight is like a

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dream come true like as a young person

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like when I was like nine years old I’d

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watch fashion television on City TV and

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I would just like would dream about the

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clothes the material the lighting the

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pictures like I just like loved fashion

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so much as a young person and like I

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went more into music but now today is

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like my Evolution my Pokemon evolution

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to design so like really like excited

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for tonight yeah you must be as this is

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your debut fashion so you talked a

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little bit about it feeling like

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um a birth and and as a introduction to

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being on this kind of stage of course

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you’re used to it being a musician and

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that’s what I think a lot of people know

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you for but this is really exciting that

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you’re that you’re debuting it here it’s

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so awesome to be a part of you know

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an event where you know our ogs really

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paved the way for us and then we get to

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celebrate with them and like

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they inspired us from like Pam Baker

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like totally inspired me

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um Tyler Allen Jacobs like he actually

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taught me how to sew regalia because I

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would do my own power regalia I dance

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women’s traditional and he taught me how

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to like make patterns and all of that

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and then I was able to make my own

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family regalia and ribbon skirts and now

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like

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um also button blankets because I’m from

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the West Coast as well so it’s like so

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important I love making regalia so I

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want to make regalia for the red carpets

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absolutely well you’ve been preparing

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for this been all your life

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um we’re at a really important event

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here for the Vancouver indigenous

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Fashion Week how does it feel to be

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in this place at this time

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so incredible like we’re lighting it up

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we’re giving life and us as indigenous

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people we are the best storytellers if

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it’s in visual art

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film television music and now design and

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we’ve been fashion designers since time

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and Memorial so to be here is like

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so exciting to celebrate with each other

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especially after pandemic oh and that’s

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for sure and you had mentioned earlier

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we’re at the Queen’s theater and you’re

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addressing indigenous queens and that is

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something to celebrate it is so this

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something is celebratory because we are

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still here you know they didn’t kill the

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Indian and the child

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we’re looking fashionable when we look

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so good like us as indigenous people we

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have whatever we step out it’s like

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Grand entry every day because we got our

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flashy earrings we got our beautiful

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like you know

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ribbon skirts we got our beautiful

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jackets like men like of course we would

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have this type of event and for you know

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I’ve known Jolene since I was a teenager

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we grew up in eastvan together so now to

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see even her Evolution and like she’s

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really creating the culture and pushing

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the culture forward so big shout outs to

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Joey absolutely Powerhouse and also

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bringing Powerhouse people together

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and the grand entry is the runway so I

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wish you good luck tonight I’m so

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excited oh my gosh I’m so excited and I

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my next step is I want to be on the red

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carpets in Hollywood I want to be on the

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Met Gala like that’s my like ultimate

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goal is to Adorn our indigenous movie

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stars our indigenous models so I’m

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excited

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um for the future yeah red power on the

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red carpet is your future

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okay language thank you thank you so

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much All My Relations

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[Music]

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