To mark the conclusion of Everlasting, join us on Saturday 7 November for a roundtable moderated by Amanda Lickers, the exhibition curator and 2023-2024 Indigenous Land Restitution Research-Creation Fellow.

This panel brings together Brian Porter, Elizabeth “Dori” Tunstall, and Matthew Hickey to reflect on the ways that Indigenous communities can self-determine in design and the built environment. Speakers share perspectives on the emerging practice of “design sovereignty” in the context of Indigenous territorial and cultural stewardship, reframing dominant design paradigms as tools of colonial dispossession and reflecting on the challenges of cultural erasure and appropriation. From reimagining urban relations to expanding universal inclusivity across species and ecosystems, participants consider how self-determination in design supports not just Indigenous, but global, land-based futures.

As space is limited in the theatre, registration is recommended.

Attendees are encouraged to read Towards Design Sovereignty by Jason De Santolo and Nadeena Dixon before the event.

Amanda Lickers (Seneca of Six Nations of the Grand River, ON based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal, Canada) is an Haudenosaunee artist, designer, and curator whose work explores the interconnected relationship of land-body sovereignty. Her work—which blends visual arts, installation, and material cultures—has been exhibited across Canada and internationally. She is the 2023-2024 CCA Indigenous Land Restitution Research-Creation Fellow and curator of the exhibition Everlasting at the CCA.

Brian Porter is an Indigenous architect from the Oneida Nation. He has been working in Six Nations Reserve for the past twenty-four years as principal of Two Row Architect, an entirely Indigenous-owned and operated architecture firm. Brian has worked across Canada, the United States, and many First Nation Reserves.

Elizabeth “Dori” Tunstall is a design anthropologist and author of Decolonizing Design: A Cultural Justice Guidebook (MIT Press, 2023). She was Associate Professor of Design Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Swinburne University in Australia, and the first black and black female Dean of a design faculty at OCAD University. Dori has received many awards, notably the 2022 Sir Misha Black Award for Distinguished Service to Design Education. Dori holds a PhD in Anthropology from Stanford University and a BA in Anthropology from Bryn Mawr College.

Matthew Hickey is Kanien’keha:ka of Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve. He is a practicing architect and currently oversees design and development for the firm Two Row Architect. Matthew is also an Assistant Professor at OCAD University. He is a Director on the Board of Toronto Artscape Inc. and a member of the Waterfront Design Review Panel. Matthew holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Calgary and a Bachelor of Design from OCAD University.