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Claudia CHAGOYA

artist statement

of familiar fibre

Claudia CHAGOYA

artist statement

of familiar fibre

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artist statement

of familiar fibre

royal college

of art

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CAAF RESIDENCY 2021

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land acknowledgement

I acknowledge that my studio practice and creative life unfold on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), the Tsuut’ina Nation, and the Îyârhe Nakoda Nations (Bearspaw, Chiniki, and Goodstoney), as well as on the lands of the Otipemisiwak Métis Government Districts 5 and 6. I recognize that this place, known as Mohkinstsis to the Blackfoot People, was long a meeting ground and gathering place for generations of Indigenous peoples.

As an artist who arrived here carrying my own history—a history marked by migration and the enduring rhythms of land being reshaped by colonial forces—I feel a responsibility to hold this land with care. I was raised in a land that also carries the weight of colonial displacement, and I know that remembrance is never passive. Acknowledging these territories means more than naming them: it means pledging to learn from the communities who have tended this place since time immemorial. It means honouring their resilience, their ceremonies, and their ways of knowing the earth.

In this spirit, I commit my practice to listening: to the land, to the voices of Blackfoot, Tsuut’ina, Stoney Nakoda, and Métis Elders—past, present, and future—and to standing in solidarity with efforts toward healing and justice. I am grateful to create here, and I recognize that true gratitude demands ongoing action: showing up, amplifying Indigenous voices, and believing that this work of reckoning is inseparable from the work of making art.