Bio

Cheryl L'Hirondelle

(cree/halfbreed; german/polish)

is an interdisciplinary and community-engaged artist; a singer/songwriter and a critical thinker whose family roots are from Papaschase First Nation, amiskwaciy waskahikan (Edmonton, Alberta) and Kikino Metis Settlement, Alberta. Her work investigates and attempts to articulate the dynamism of nehiyawin (Cree worldview) in contemporary time-place with a practice that incorporates Indigenous language(s), audio, video, virtual reality, the olfactory, music and audience/user participation to create immersive environments towards 'radical inclusion.'

As a songwriter, L'Hirondelle's focus is on both sharing nehiyawewin (Cree language) and Indigenous and contemporary song-forms and personal narrative songwriting as methodologies toward survivance. She has exhibited and performed widely, both nationally and internationally.

L'Hirondelle is the recipient of two imagineNATIVE New Media Awards (2005, 2006), two Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards (2006, 2007) and she is a recipient of the 2021 Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Art. She holds a master's degree in Design from OCAD University's Inclusive Design program (2015). L'Hirondelle also the Director of Miyoh Music Inc., a small Indigenous niche music publishing company and record label.