Joshua Conrad, a Chawathil First Nation artist based in Chilliwack, is a recipient of the this year's YVR Art Foundation Mid-Career Artist Scholarships.
The $5,000 scholarship is going towards Conrad's current project which blends the Halq̓eméylem language with his art. He is making a neon sign for the Vancouver International Airport that will welcome passengers with the Halq'eméylem word shxwemá, which means open.
Conrad is working with Squamish First Nation and Musqueam First Nation on this project. He first got the idea to do a placemaking project that incorporates Halq'eméylem while travelling through Hawaii. While there, he was inspired by the signs with the Polynesian language or names for streets, roads, and buildings on them. Seeing the Indigenous language used so naturally with the everyday infrastructure made Conrad think of how uplifting it would be to see something similar in B.C.
Originally the artwork was supposed to be an augmented-reality piece. However, after starting to work on the neon sign, Conrad realized that he "just wanted to make this" and that this particular piece didn't need to follow his previous works.
"I'm pretty excited," Conrad said. "I do lots of public placemaking for different projects. And this idea, it actually came because I was trying to make augmented reality overlays of neon sign. I partner with organizations in different cities across Canada. And I work with them to create culturally meaningful augmented reality placed based experiences, in places and spaces that Indigenous people have occupied since time immemorial."
Born and raised in Hope, Conrad is a 3D artist who uses virtual and augmented reality to highlight Indigenous history, cultures, and communities. He is also the owner of Slow Studies Creative, "an Indigenous-led creative agency bringing public spaces to life through immersive digital art, activations, and exhibitions." The agency collaborates with and represent Indigenous artists, along with other self-taught artists, who fuse tradition with technology.
His passion for art began at a young age thanks to the hours he spent with his mother learning beadwork and other crafts from her. When he was 12, his mother passed away and Conrad said the grief he felt left him seeking to reconnect to his Stó:lō and Nlaka’pamux communities. It also left him wanting to carry forward his mother's memory through his art.
The impact of this led to Conrad moving to Vancouver, at 17 years old, where he earned a fine arts diploma from Langara College and a digital arts/graphic design certificate from Vancouver Community College. He then opened a t-shirt printing company, which he ran for a while, before switching to graphic design. He then ran a number of production houses, doing fine art print, in Gastown.
When his father passed away in 2017, Conrad began focusing more on 3D art, specifically learning different art-tech software, to process his grief and find himself. This led to him landing contracts with Meta which opened the door to him becoming an augmented reality and virtual reality artist.
Since then he's done work for Spotify, the Vancouver Mural Festival, the Gastown BIA, and worked with multiple artists in Canada. He's also given numerous talks about art-tech and is part of the Chilliwack Arts Council.
Conrad hopes to eventually expand this project into a series, where he installs various signs with Halq'eméylem words, throughout the Lower Mainland. In particular, he would like to see this project in Chilliwack and Hope. He is also looking for opportunities to bring his augmented reality art to the Hope area.
For now, however, he's grateful for the scholarship and the chance to work with YVR.
"Honestly, it was such an experience to go and be at the (scholarship) ceremony, and see the artworks of the folks that have gone through the program from last year," Conrad said. "And it was an honour to see the other folks, who were also recipients of this year's scholarship. Just being able to create this new network of like-minded folks, who I can ideate and learn with, it's gonna be really important. And I'm excited to see what we all create in the end."
A scholarship was also given to Kolten Khasalus, a member of the Kwakwaka'wakw community, and Raven Thorgeirson, a Haida First Nation member.
Founded in 2005, the YVR Art Foundation is a not-for-profit that supports the growth of B.C. and Yukon First Nations artists by providing scholarships, grants, awards and exhibition opportunities. The foundation is funded by the Vancouver International Airport, as well as other donors and sponsors.
For more information about the YVR Art Foundation, visit www.yvraf.com.
