Dr. Susan Blight (Anishinaabe, Couchiching First Nation) is a place-based researcher and interdisciplinary artist working with public art, site-specific intervention, wearable art, film and social practice. Her solo and collaborative work engages questions of personal and cultural identity and its relationship to space. Susan is co-founder of Ogimaa Mikana, an artist collective working to reclaim the roads and landmarks of Anishinaabeg territory with Anishinaabemowin and has recently co-founded AKI|ACKEE with Yuseph Jackman, a collective focused on the convergence of art, fashion, and social justice. She earned a PhD in Social Justice Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto.  Susan is the former Chair in Indigenous Visual Culture at OCAD University. She was an Associate Editor at The Capilano Review for the publication’s Indigenous Places and Names series. Susan is currently an Assistant Professor in Indigenous Arts in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance, and Design at York University. Most recently, Susan is the recipient of a Governor General’s Meritorious Service Award (Civil Division), one of the highest distinctions a civilian can receive, for her work with Ogimaa Mikana.

Mary McPherson is an Anishinaabe artist and legal academic researching the intersections of Aboriginal rights, Western legal theory, Indigenous philosophical revitalization, and self-determination. In her practice, Mary works with charcoal and graphite to create immersive drawings as a form of community-based action against colonial state mechanisms. She is currently a PhD candidate in law at Queen’s University and has earned a Master of Laws from Queen’s University, a Juris Doctor from the University of Ottawa, and an Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts from Lakehead University. Mary is a member of Couchiching First Nation and is rooted in northwestern Ontario alongside her friends and family.

Michah Dowbak, also known as Mad Dog Jones, is a Canadian artist from Thunder Bay working across digital media, crypto technology, and NFTs. Gaining an expansive online audience over the past decade, Dowbak’s futurist style is inspired by cyberpunk, graphic novels, and Tokyo Street photography. His highly detailed and ultraviolet-infused imagery explores themes and narratives of dystopia, urbanism, and online culture. Exhibiting globally, Michah’s work has been sought after for major commissions with both independent artists and organizations as well as luxury brands in the art, music, and sports industries, including DeadMua5, Run the Jewels, Wake the Giant, Chromeo, Mercedes-Benz and the Miami Grand Prix, among many others.