OUR APPROACH TO
PUBLIC ART + DESIGN
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Our design process is rooted in
ancestral protocols, values and teachings.
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Through a process of combining Indigenous research methodologies, primary archival research, trauma-informed practice and oral history we daylight hidden histories. We re-centre ancestral teachings from Time Immemorial to address the needs of the present. We communicate and collaborate to ensure respectful design processes.
We use a Co-Creation process based in Ancestral teachings and protocols with the wider community to develop a unique approach.
Indigenous perspectives deepen our connection to the land, empowering us to build in respectful relation to the lands, waters and skies. Inherently rooted in sustainable, accessible, and circular thinking.
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We are committed to uplifting and celebrating local Indigenous visions for the future of urbanism, public art, policy and planning. We plan on doing this through capacity building, solidarity and co-creation with communities and members of those communities with these lived experiences so their agency and voices are respected in every level of these design processes.
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RESEARCH
We begin any project by combining primary archival and oral history research to form the basis for a respectful and appropriate design process.
This community storytelling practice informs a context that reflects authentic histories that allow community members to participate in the Co-Creation of each project with agency and confidence.
It is our goal to be the mediators, listeners, and the guides to create safe, comfortable environments for meaningful storytelling to produce productive, well-educated and informed pathways forward.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
We set visionary precedents for meaningful community engagement through our Indigenous design and research methodologies rooted in Indigenous values, storytelling, mentorship, pacing, oral history and community-led project practices.
Based in ancestral governance, Indigenous Law, and respectful protocols Sky Spirit Studio has the multi-disciplinary tools to ensure respectful, meaningful, and transformative design and community engagement processes.
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It is important to move at the speed of trust.
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WORKSHOPS
We are committed to transformative practices that respectfully and inclusively engage with diverse communities to elevate the conversation in meaningful, design and research.
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Our workshops aim to educate on authentic histories and realities based in our original research that his been in development for over 15 years.
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These workshops are directed towards teams we work with, but are open and applicable across many fields supporting and/or impacting Indigenous Sovereignty
INDIGENOUS DESIGN
Centring Indigenous oral history is central to our process so that Legends and storytelling shape the entire design, public art and engagements so that the final design reflects the stories and the People whom originate from the land.
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Western design often develops arbitrary identities for sites, when the land has had an identity and a name since Time Immemorial.
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We are determined to expand opportunities for Indigenous communities to lead design processes, and express their sovereignty, agency and identities through design.