Powerful medicine in Zikwaadan says clown drag performer
By Kelly Anne Smith
NORTH BAY— An Indigenous clown drag show is coming soon to your screens on January 26 at 6:30pm EST. Zikwaadan // Spit on it! livestreams on YouTube.
“Showcasing Indigenous clown drag performers to a broader audience that appreciates the weird, is super cool. A niche crowd will be into this and I want the little goblin freaks to log in!!! And I want to show that it’s cool to be cringe!” That from Assistant Coordinator Tejhler LB in a previous media release, adding that they are “Super stoked to be part of something so new and unique.”
The event is hosted by the Northern Indigenous Artist Alliance (NIAA). NIAA ‘s co-founder Rihkee Strapp is Red River Métis, shares insight into the performers featured in the show.
“Clair Voyant is their drag persona and Tejhler LB is their artist name. Tejhler is the administrative assistant. This project is their dream child and they’ve taken the lead on artistic direction. They will also be performing as Clair Voyant,” Strapp details. “The other Indigenous performers are Olive Boogits from Thunder Bay. Their real name is Belmor Belmore, which is a great name. Boogits is Anishinaabemowin for ‘fart!’ So, I love that one. They have a really classic vaudeville style that’s really unique and really exciting…And then there is Jet E Psychedelia, who is an actor named Jordan Fiddler who is based in Sandy Lake First Nation…And then we have one performer from down south named Mx. Honey-Jack and their real name is Frankie Hernandez. Our one person from the south. It’s kinda nice to have all these performers from Northern Ontario be able to kinda network with someone who performs at the Lookout a lot. It’s like the drag venue in Ottawa. I hope that if people get along, they will put on more shows. It’s a really exciting group of clowns from like all over the place. As well as myself. I go by the name Miskwa the Mad Clown. I’ll be hosting the evening.”
Strapp talks of their desired target audience during the upheaval of hatred diversion in right-wing strategy.
“There’s been a lot of stigmatizing trans people and drag artists in the political sphere, so we’re really looking for people that are impacted by that or allies and a space for ourselves to be silly and practice performing, which is crucial and healing in our various Nations with varying processes of doing that. Also, for people who are curious about traditional clowns,” Strapp explains. “It’s still something that I’m learning about myself, as I am being a clown. I think it’s for people that are like curious about the culture and they’re looking for a space that’s free and playful.”
With a giggle, Strapp says the Anishinaabemowin word Zikwaadan means spit on it, adding that it’s really relevent given the current stigma, reflecting on the story of a friend from the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.
“They’d been camping on this ceremony site to try and keep it from being developed. There was a lot of people who were kind of mad, that wanted it to be developed and there was an Elder there. They had saw that there had been some bad medicine put on the protesters. And so, the Elder told everyone, ‘Everyone get together and spit on it!’ Because spit is the most powerful medicine,” Strapp recalls. “When I think of this show, I think about how trans people and drag is being used as this political talking point. This show is like, we’re going to spit on the haters and take away that power and just allow our communities to have this playful joy and fun.”
“It was Tejhler’s idea. I’ve got to emphasize that. She found this word in an Anishinaabemowin dictionary. I just thought is was so perfect because I remember that story,” Strapp continues. “I’m really new to learning about Indigenous clowns in general…My best friend is from Port Hope and he’s a Windigokaan. We were talking about how confusing it is, all these genders. And people will call Two-Spirit people a kind of gender but it’s not really because gender is a European concept…He said, ‘If I was trying to translate what Windigokaan is into this European system, I would call it clown gender.’ I thought that was so funny.”
Strapp was sent a book from a Mi’kmaq friend for her research.
“…written by a colonial anthropologist, so using words like shaman. And the Medicine Man’s lodge and there’s the clown’s lodge. It’s interesting because you go to each one for the same sicknesses, but they have different processes. I still don’t have answers but I thought it was so fascinating,” Strapp explains. “There is also this phenomenon of these young people that are doing clown drag. I think it’s really important to emphasize the traditional origins of this urge that we have in our bodies to perform like this…And then there’s some rumours I’ve heard from other [Indigenous] clowns that have more experience than me that also say a lot of European clowning was actually appropriated from Indigenous peoples.”
Zikwaadan // Spit on it! received an Ontario Arts Council grant through the Indigenous Projects funds to the Northern Indigenous Artists Alliance, says Strapp.
“We are really excited about it because we’re not just putting on the show Zikwaadan but it really came out of a young artist who is one of the performers who wanted to learn arts administration skills. She came up to me and said, ‘I want to be able to put on my own shows.’ And I said, ‘Let’s do one together and I can go through the process we would take at NIAA. And so, this show is also about mentoring that artist in those skills. So that’s one of the things I’m really excited about for this project specifically.”
Zikwaadan // Spit on it! livestreams on YouTube January 26 at 6:30pm EST. Strapp says there is a chance it will be available for video on demand after.