Viral TikTok propels Calgary artist into B.C. Indigenous art gallery

A viral tiktok has lead to a Calgary artist’s work being featured in an indigenous art gallery in BC. Taylor Braat speaks to Nahanni Francesca, who wants to share the indigenous experience through her art.

CALGARY — A TikTok calling out how colonial figures grace our Canadian money that went viral has changed one Calgary artist’s career overnight.

After it received over 500,000 views since being posted last week — it led to a call from the owner of the Mark Loria Art Gallery in Victoria, B.C.

“It’s an Indigenous gallery and he was interested in purchasing the piece along with others I’ve created, so we started a relationship which sort of propelled my art career overnight,” said Nahanni Francesca.

While pursuing her fine arts degree in painting, Francesca of the Sayisi Dene First Nation in Manitoba wanted to reconnect to her culture and decided to take Indigenous Studies as well.

That’s where she learned more about John A. Macdonald and his role in creating residential schools.


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“And then I became very angered when I realized he was on our money.”

Now she hopes that her art will bring more attention to the renaming of one northwest Calgary school still named after Macdonald, especially in the wake of the discovery of unmarked grave sites at former residential schools.

“The school in Calgary named after John A. Macdonald teaches students about residential schools in a building named after the man who started them. How does that make sense?”

Francesca’s work will be displayed at the gallery — just a few of many focusing on the Indigenous experience.

“I’ve had a reconnection with my culture in the last two years and creating art that shares the Indigenous perspective on colonialism is the most important thing to me,” she said.

With her art, she hopes to create awareness to help create a better world for her daughter to grow up in.

“It’s important that my daughter grows up in a more understanding world.”

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