Public Talk with Brandon Mitchell, Mi'kmaq Graphic Artist and Published Author, November 23rd, 5:30-7:00 pm, Arts W-120, 853 Sherbrooke O.
Brandon Mitchell is Mi’gmaq artist from Listuguj First Nations in Quebec and currently resides in the unceded Wolastoqiyik, Peace and Friendship Treaty territory of Fredericton, New Brunswick with his family. He carries a Diploma in Animation and Design from the New Brunswick Community College of Miramichi and holds a master’s degree in education from the University of New Brunswick. He is the founder of Birch Bark Comics and creator of the Sacred Circles comic series, which explored his Mi’kmaq heritage through a contemporary lens.
He has authored six stories for Indigenous Story Studio, was a contributing author of "Migwite'tmeg: We Remember It, for “This Place: 150 years retold”, and created a young readers series named “Giju’s Gift”which is the first volume of ongoing series of graphic novels inspired by traditional stories. In addition, Brandon’s love of storytelling has expanded into animation. He has directed 4 animated shorts for the Ni’gweg Collective since 2021. These stories are rooted in his community of Listuguj and reaffirm the importance of community, culture, language, and the power our stories hold.
Brandon explains that in his Indigenous Studies courses and in what the media was publishing, there was no mention of the raids that happened in his home community. The salmon raids in 1981 brought 500 provincial police officers and rangers to storm the community of Listuguj. It was one of the first incidents of what is known as the “Salmon War,” between the Quebec government and several MARITIME Indigenous communities.
At University, Brandon was always trying to fill in the gaps verbally about the struggles the Mi’kmaq faced which was a burden to him but, soon enough, Brandon was hired to work publishing a comic book, and he was able to start filling in the gaps visually, to his enjoyment. When Brandon was invited to contribute to the book “This Place,” he spoke with his mother-in-law about the raids, and he was able to recreate, in a 24-page comic book chapter, visual representation on the history of those struggles through a Mi’kmaw lens. Brandon then started to create comic books with Indigenous characters from his community, like in “Giju’s Gift,” he explains his works as follows “Our oral history is perfect for graphic novels because I can help visualize the community’s stories.”
Growing up, Brandon had a love of comic books, but he was never able to see Indigenous characters and if there was one, they would be secondary characters. “It is so important that Indigenous youth see themselves in mediums such as comic books and it makes me feel rewarded when I see youth being able to see themselves in a character or in their community”.
In the audience a mohawk teacher from Kahnawake told Brandon that she used his book for her classroom teaching Kanienkehaka youth and some translated some of the words from and "Giju’s Gift" into their own language.
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