Indigenous Ward Names

In 2020, the City of Edmonton accepted a proposal to rename the municipal wards to Indigenous names. A naming committee of female Indigenous elders was assembled to gift a name to each ward.

Each ward name had a unique meaning and story to tell about why it was selected. These names were chosen in references to historical figures, spiritual concepts, Indigenous nations, and more. The goal of this series of videos was to educate Edmontonians on the meaning, origin, and pronunciation of each name. Our team was not made of Indigenous artists. We were chosen to work on this project because we had a a skillset we could utilize to tell the stories in a celebratory and respectful way, while consulting with and following the lead of the Indigenous elders on the naming committee. We were honoured to work on this project and approached it with immense care and sensitivity to working within a culture that was not ours.

I worked with the team to develop a style for each video that was unique and representative of the ward name, but that shared a common visual language. The committee of Indigenous elders narrated each video and consulted on their production. I worked closely with the animation and video team to see these videos from scripts and style frames to fully-realized animations. I also undertook the task of doing archival research for each video, finding accurate images from each Nation, to give historical context to these stories. This project took home several ACE Awards from the Advertising Club of Edmonton including Best in Show and Art Direction. This project features illustrations by Paul Twa, and animation and videography by the talented team of creatives at Sticks & Stones.

All of the videos can be viewed on edmonton.ca. This project was created at Sticks & Stones.