Siku Allooloo (born 1986) is an

Inuk Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, and ...

/Haitian

Taíno The Taíno were a historic Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, indigenous people of the Caribbean whose culture has been continued today by Taíno descendant communities and Taíno revivalist communities. At the time of European contact in the ...

writer, artist, facilitator and land-based educator from Denendeh ("the Land of the People"),

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

and

Pond Inlet Pond Inlet ( iu, Mittimatalik, lit=the place where Mittima is buried) is a small, predominantly Inuit community in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada, located on northern Baffin Island. To the Inuit the name of the place "is and always ...

Nunavut Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' ...

in Canada. Allooloo's works incorporates the legacies of resistance to

settler colonialism Settler colonialism is a structure that perpetuates the elimination of Indigenous people and cultures to replace them with a settler society. Some, but not all, scholars argue that settler colonialism is inherently genocidal. It may be enacted ...

, and revitalization of Indigenous communities. Through her writing, visual art, and activism, Allooloo fights against colonial violence on indigenous women. She won ''

Briarpatch ''Briarpatch'' is an independent alternative news magazine based in Saskatchewan, Canada and distributed across Canada and internationally. ''Briarpatch'' is published six times a year by Briarpatch Incorporated, an independent non-profit organi ...

'' magazine's 2016 creative nonfiction contest with the piece titled "Living Death".

Educational background

Siku Allooloo holds a Bachelor of Arts degree (BA) in anthropology and

Indigenous studies Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

from the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary instit ...

. Her diverse background in cultural land-based programming, youth development, research, and solidarity serves as the foundation of her creativity.

Activism

In 2013, Allooloo drafted principles for the Indigenous Nationhood movement. This website was a call for Aboriginal nations to move away from the

Indian Act The ''Indian Act'' (, long name ''An Act to amend and consolidate the laws respecting Indians'') is a Canadian act of Parliament that concerns registered Indians, their bands, and the system of Indian reserves. First passed in 1876 and still ...

and towards autonomy from the

Canadian government The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown-in-C ...

. She also participated in integrating the

Idle No More Idle No More is an ongoing protest Social movement, movement, founded in December 2012 by four women: three First Nations in Canada, First Nations women and one non-Native ally. It is a grassroots movement among the Indigenous peoples in Canad ...

movement into the North. In 2016, Allooloo assisted the international organization,

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

's investigation about police abuse of indigenous women in

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

. In 2020, Allooloo participated in a demonstration of support for

Wetʼsuwetʼen First Nation The Wetʼsuwetʼen First Nation is a Wetʼsuwetʼen First Nations band located outside of the village of Burns Lake, British Columbia, Canada. It was formerly known as the ''Broman Lake Indian Band'' and is still usually referred to as ''Broman ...

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

. In late December 2019, a British Columbia judge signed off on an injunction that would prevent the Wet’suwet’en from protecting their land from the proposed

Coastal GasLink Pipeline The Coastal GasLink pipeline is a TC Energy natural gas pipeline under construction in British Columbia, Canada. Starting in Dawson Creek, the pipeline's route crosses through the Canadian Rockies and other mountain ranges to Kitimat, where the ...

Career

Her writing has been featured in ''

'', ''

The Malahat Review ''The Malahat Review'' is a Canadian quarterly literary magazine established in 1967. It features contemporary Canadian and international works of poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction as well as reviews of recently published Canadian litera ...

'', Nuit Blanche Toronto, ''

Canadian Art Canadian art refers to the visual (including painting, photography, and printmaking) as well as plastic arts (such as sculpture) originating from the geographical area of contemporary Canada. Art in Canada is marked by thousands of years of hab ...

'' and Surrey Art Gallery Presents, among other publications. She was faculty for the residency "The Space Between Us: Technology, collaboration, and the future" held at the

Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, formerly known as The Banff Centre (and previously The Banff Centre for Continuing Education), located in Banff, Alberta, was established in 1933 as the Banff School of Drama. It was granted full autonomy as ...

. Allooloo was also the artistic producer for "Bystander: Study Guide" by the Gwaandak Theatre in 2018.

Group exhibitions and projects

Allooloo has collaborated artistically with indigenous artists across Canada since 2014. Exhibitions and projects include: * 2015: Allooloo participated in the Indigenous Writers Program at the Banff Centre,

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. * 2017: ''Way in Which It Was Given to Us'' at Surrey Art Gallery, British Columbia. Allooloo's essay was presented accompanied with

Marianne Nicolson Marianne Nicolson (‘Tayagila’ogwa; born 1969) is a Dzawada’enuxw visual artist whose work explores the margins at which public access to First Nations artifacts clashes with the preservation of indigenous cultural knowledge. She utilize ...

's animation for the city's annual public art project, UrbanScreen. * 2017: ''Life on Neebahgeezis; A Luminous Engagement, Many Possible Futures'' at

Nuit Blanche Nuit Blanche () (White Night) is an annual all-night or night-time arts festival of a city. A Nuit Blanche typically has museums, private and public art galleries, and other cultural institutions open and free of charge, with the centre of the ...

in Toronto (2017), curated by

Maria Hupfield Maria Hupfield (born 1975) is a Canadian artist, working in Brooklyn, New York. She is an Anishinaabe, specifically an Ojibwe and a member of the Wasauksing First Nation, located in Ontario, Canada. Hupfield works in a variety of media, including v ...

. With an indigenous writer and academic, Jaskiran Dhillon, Allooloo conducted the commissioned project, ''In Conversation: Becoming an Accomplice.'' * 2018: ''Mirrored in Stone,'' as a part a larger project called ''New Chapter program'' funded through

Canada Council The Canada Council for the Arts (french: Conseil des arts du Canada), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It acts as the federal government's principal i ...

for the Arts. This project created a collaborative documentary film in collaboration with Vancouver-based artists,

and

Althea Thauberger Althea Thauberger is a Canadian visual artist, film maker and educator. Her work engages relational practices rooted in sustained collaborations with groups or communities through social, theatrical and textual processes that often operate outside t ...

with five emerging artists including Allooloo. * 2018: ''This world; here,'' Arts & Media Lab, the Isabel Bader Centre for Performing Arts, Queens University. * 2019: ''Hexsa'am,''

Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Vancouver, British Columbia, on the campus of the University of British Columbia. The gallery is housed in an award-winning building designed by architect Peter Cardew and o ...

'. Her piece, "Akia" was displayed through sealskin on canvas.

Publications

Allooloo's creative non-fiction and poetry pieces appear in several journals, magazines, news articles, and academic books. * In 2015, she wrote an article for the ''

Northern Journal The ''Northern Journal'' is a weekly newspaper based out of Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean ...

'' titled "Reclaim justice, end the violence." * In 2016, Allooloo wrote ''Dismantling Columbus and the Power of the Present'' for Truthout. * In 2016, Allooloo's creative nonfiction piece "Living Death" won ''Briarpatch'' magazine's creative nonfiction contest. * In 2016, Allooloo's creative nonfiction piece, "Caribou People" appeared in the magazine ''Indigenous Perspectives''. This piece was later included in the book, ''Shapes of Native Nonfiction: Collected Essays by Contemporary Writers'', published by Washington University Press in 2019''.'' Though depicting the feast on caribou with Allooloo's own relatives, this piece describes the impact of climate change on Indigenous people living in the north. * In 2017, four poems, individually titled: "Because, colonialism", "Survivor’s Guilt guilt", "Stone whisperer", and "Offering", were featured in ''

The New Quarterly ''The New Quarterly'' is a literary magazine based in Waterloo, Ontario that publishes short fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction from emerging and established Canadian writers. History and profile ''The New Quarterly'' was established in ...

''. * In 2019, the poem for "Akia" was published in ''

''. This piece was also displayed in 2019 exhibition "Hexsa'am: To Be Here Always." at

, through sealskin on canvas.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allooloo, Siku People from Pond Inlet Inuit artists 21st-century Canadian women writers Living people 1986 births Canadian Inuit women Artists from Nunavut Writers from Nunavut Inuit writers 21st-century Canadian writers 21st-century Canadian women artists 21st-century Canadian artists