Tenille Campbell named Indigenous Storyteller in-Residence at USask and will focus on the themes of joy and friendship. (Submitted Photo/Ali Lauren)

By Julia Lovett-Squires

Storyteller

English River’s Tenille Campbell new indigenous Storyteller In-Residence at USask

Dec 7, 2023 | 2:00 PM

Tenille Campbell has chosen female empowerment as her overarching theme after being named to the University Library Indigenous Storyteller In-Residence at the University of Saskatchewan.

“I’m really excited about this, I’ve had a couple meetings with my upcoming colleagues and they’re really supportive of this idea,” said the award-winning poet and photographer.

Campbell, originally from English River First Nation, and has Dene and Metis roots achieved her Master of Fine Arts in 2012 and is now working towards earning her English doctorate. Campbell knew two of the previous Indigenous Storytellers In-Residence and applied to an open call-out.

“I was really interested in applying and seeing what I could bring to the table and forcing myself out of my own comfort zone – what does it mean to be an artist in this day?”

“I don’t know what it looks like to be an artist yet, I feel like I’m still a baby artist,” she said laughing. “I feel like I’m still at the very beginning of my journey.”

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The award-winner, who also has connections to Duck Lake, St. Louis and Batoche is currently developing a loose concept that will work to encourage women through beadwork, photography, and poetry.

“We need to take up some more space.”

Campbell explained that her artwork has always carried the themes of promoting positive indigenous representation and joy. To carry it into her In-Residence project just made sense.

“Especially into academia and onto the library and into this kind of space, promoting indigenous women (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) women, non-indigenous women in our scholarship, in our academia, in our work trying to maintain that idea that we belong here and we in all areas of this place,” she said noting it’s about community, not competition.

“We see each other as people to lift up and not to drag down and just kind of switching that narrative that women are your sisters and your cousins and your aunties and your friends.”

As part of the residency, the University Library and the Saskatoon Public Library have partnered to host workshops at various branches and Campbell said as someone about to reach 40, she’s excited for the new year and its new challenges.

“This idea that art can just suddenly take over your life and shift your way of thinking and the way that you approach your work, and your community is really exciting,” she said. “Nothing is set in stone.”

The goal of this residency, which begins in January, and will run for 12 weeks, is about learning together.

“Last year I learned to do beadwork and I’m very, very bad at it, so I’ll stay humble, but it’s definitely going to be a part of my emerging work with the library,” she said. “We’ve got to start somewhere and why not now?”

The work will be a collaboration between all involved.

“Taking inspiration and knowledge from each other and sharing it with each other,” she said of her process.

“I don’t want to be like ‘Here I am, this what I know’ It’s more like ‘Here we are, what do we know?”

To learn more about Campbell’s work, visit https://www.tenillecampbell.com/.

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julia.lovettsquires@pattisonmedia.com’

On X: @jls194864