INDIGENOUS ARTIST COLLECTIVE
Our
Story
The birth of Red Urban Nation (RUN)
The RUN initiative emerged organically via Nishdish Cafe and Catering - the first Indigenous restaurant in Toronto.
Within the welcoming space of NishDish, Johl curated exhibitions featuring numerous Indigenous artists, including himself by contributing a mural and commissioning Ren Lonechild for three additional murals both interior and exterior works.
Johl played a pivotal role in this endeavor, collaborating with Indigenous youth to paint a sizable Red Thunderbird on the west wall of Nishdish. Amidst showcasing talents such as the Late Jay Bell Redbird, Jonathan Jobakwoam, Keitha Tobias Keeshig, Elliot, and various other skilled artisans and crafters, the idea germinated to establish an official Indigenous artist collective. Hence RUN was born.
Alongside the inception of RUN, we concurrently initiated TIBA, Ojibiikaan, and Miinikaan.
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Red Urban Nation's Mission
Red Urban Nation Artists Collective (R.U.N.) is an Indigenous-led group of emerging and established artists working together to reconnect community and cultivate Indigenous place-making for the urban Indigenous community through the Arts. RUN collaboratively examines ideas of Indigenous futures; traditional and contemporary knowledge systems; and Indigenous histories and presence within the urban environment. With various works, murals and public projects RUN seeks to collaboratively promote the importance of Indigenous knowledge, many teachings, and to raise Indigenous voices into the contemporary awareness of the city by opening spaces for the community to gather, connect and enjoy. RUN ‘s creative process always begins with engaging the local Elders and community to guide our work and to ensure that the stories shared visually are accurate and begin in ceremony to ensure that our collective energies come together as one. Through art and sharing across communities and generations RUN’s Indigenous artists come together in a visual discussion blending their styles to engage with one another and both the Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities to ignite conversations to unify and strengthen the Toronto community at large. RUN has successfully installed multiple collaborative public art projects in the city. We became established as a strong presence in Toronto through the 3-phase Indigenous Murals Project at the Bickford Centre taking place over the past three years. This culminated in a 75ft x 30ft installation in 2020 titled “Medicine For the People”. The reason that RUN’s complex multi-installation projects are so successful is due to the collaborative, land-based, community based process and direct community engagement. This includes Indigenous community members and Elders in consultation and Stakeholder engagement and partnership creation on a multitude of levels, which have also involved Indigenous Youth council participation. Our practices value the importance of stewardship, of Land, Community and Culture. These threads draw us together to channel with respect community strengths while treating with care this collective effort to cultivate Indigenous place-making. Community engagement and good relations is a fundamental part of public art. RUN is committed to honour the many stories and shared agreements to traverse these shared spaces. These sites are not passive; but living places and the art echoes this understanding in visual form.
