When we work with digital and Indigenous content we often don't consider the unique problems presented in this medium. Meagan Byrne, an Âpihtawikosisân (Métis) Narrative Mechanics Designer and founder of Achimostawinan Games will share her knowledge about working with Indigenous content in the digital industry and why it’s important to develop Protocols. Meagan is joined by Elijah Forbes, a Two-Spirit Odawa transgender man working in comics, illustration, and writing and head of the Indigenous Comics Collective; and Taylor McArthur (Nakota, of Pheasant Rump Nakota First Nation, Saskatchewan) a digital artist who works at the intersection of 3D animation, video game design, and video.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Meagan Byrne is an pihtawikosisân (Métis) digital media artist and game designer born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario. She has been creating digital interactive works since 2014 and is heavily influenced by both RPG games and all the stories she heard growing up. Her designs incorporate narrative, game mechanics, sound and traditional art and are deeply rooted in Indigenous Futurisms, language and Indigenous feminist theory. She sees her work as a constant struggle to navigate the complexities of Indigenous identity within a deeply colonized system. Meagan uses her work to explore questions of cultural belonging, the Indigenization of media and the future of Indigenous language and culture. Meagan is the current Owner/Lead Game Designer of Achimostawinan Games, an Indigenous-run and staffed video game studio.

Elijah Forbes (he/him/his) is an Odawa Two-Spirit transgender man working in comics, illustration, and writing. He has written for Fieldmouse Magazine and Model View Culture, shown work in physical and online galleries, and worked with companies of all sizes to create expressive and uplifting Indigenous work. Indigenous modes of gender and presentation are most important to his body of work, as well as themes of nonbinary ways of being. His most important current project is heading the Indigenous Comics Collective, a group created to make space for Indigenous voices in the convention and professional spheres.

Taylor McArthur (Nakota of Pheasant Rump Nakota First Nation, Saskatchewan) is a digital artist who works at the intersection of 3D animation, video game design and video. Her developing body of work is evocative of Indigenous Futurisms and seeks to situate her Indigenous culture within both the modern and a potential future.