Media and Design Innovation PhD student delves into anti-Indigenous racism policy research
As part of his Ph.D. dissertation, Media and Design Innovation student Fallon Simard is exploring the relationships between anti-Indigenous racism, Indigenous art, design, First Nation social policy and Indigenous data sovereignty. Simard intends to produce research-creation through creative community-led media and technology workshops with a research advisory committee.
Simard is an artist, meme-maker, film-maker and policy analyst. With an extensive educational background, including a BFA from York University and Masters of Art from OCAD University, Simard is applying knowledge from past educational experiences to the practice-based methodology of The Creative School’s Ph.D. in Media and Design Innovation program. Currently, Simard is creating hands-on workshops to provide Indigenous communities with creative and anti-racist education on topics of UX-UI design, Media and Art, and Indigenous data sovereignty.
Media and Design Innovation PhD student Fallon Simard
“I hope that my research invigorates media, technology, and design for Indigenous communities to enable them to enhance community-designed efficacy towards Indigenous jurisdiction and sovereignty,” Simard explained. “The final products could be a language application, a game, a software, or a database, depending on the evidence and findings of the workshops.”
Bridging heritage with academia
Heading into his second year of the program, Simard is working on gaining the skills to teach UI-UX design in his workshops. Researching Indigenous decolonial design practices is essential to the production of the workshops in order to break down barriers Indigenous peoples face systematically in academia.
This line of research is close to Simard’s heart, as a member of Indigenous communities, a policy analyst at Chiefs of Ontario, and Research Fellowship at Yellowhead Institute.
“I am really inspired to take on this research from my work in communities, including working at Chiefs of Ontario for six years and grass-roots artists workshops,” he expressed. “I'm most excited for my own opportunity to create something digital that responds to work that is my own research and words.”
With three years left of the program, Simard looks into the future of the ever-changing research environment.
“I see my research changing in terms of the final research creation outputs that I create as a response to the captured research and written critical theory I intend to undertake,” he explained. “Once this work is amalgamated into a dissertation, I will delve into my own research-creation output to advance the findings resulting from the dissertation and research.”
At the intersection of art and research
As an artist, designer, and filmmaker, Simard also aims to bridge the gap between creativity and policy in his work. He creates original pieces from different Indigenous contexts to reveal new effects of colonial-capital-racial policy, and additionally, creates policy recommendations into legislation, services, programs, and organizations. The objective of Simard’s artistic and research production is to advance theory regarding Indigeneity, mental health, culture, and politics. The framework for both his artistic and research production is centered in Indigenous-colonial and cultural theory.
An example of Simard's artwork in relation to his Indigenous policy research
Future endeavors for Simard into both art and research will ask the following questions; How is a state of grief embodied? How is burden and purpose engaged within the Indigenous-Canadian consciousness? What are the threats to the relationship between Indigenous Nations and Colonial Governments?
Aside from his academic research, Simard also captures these themes in his art business Contrary Company (external link, opens in new window) . Founded in 2020, Simard creates and designs products that blend traditional and contemporary Anishinaabe concepts. You can also see more from Simard on his website.
The Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University
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