Native Immigrant Dresses

PROJECT DETAILS​

Initiated by Montreal-based Chilean artist Carolina Echeverria in 2013, Native Immigrant Dresses project connects immigrant communities with First Nations, preserving personal stories and cultural knowledge through a series of unique installation art pieces. The Native Immigrant Dresses Social Media Documentary transforms Carolina’s dressmaking art practice archive of 10 years into a social media documentary hosted on TikTok. It functions as an easily accessible window to the project’s timeline that spans a decade of community arts collaboration on two continents. ​

Co-written by filmmakers Cailleah Scott-Grimes and Gina Hara, the documentary’s innovative narrative format leverages TikTok’s approachable and collaborative nature for real-time engagement of diverse demographics. The project also bridges generational gaps by catering to younger Indigenous and immigrant communities with relevant and rewatchable posts. The innovative approach involves using TikTok not just as a distribution platform but as an integral part of the documentary's creation, fostering immediate audience interaction and feedback. The project seeks to advance artistic practice, bringing together a diverse group of artists to create an interdisciplinary and globally accessible narrative.

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TERRITORIAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

- MONTREAL, CANADA & SOUTH-CENTRAL CHILE -

The Native Immigrant Dresses project is a collaboration between refugees, immigrants, settlers and Indigenous communities, including the Mohawks of Kahnawá:ke, of the unceded lands known by their colonized name of Montreal, and the Mapuche people on Chiloe Island and in Victoria, of the colonized territory of south-central Chile.

We acknowledge the Indigenous communities as the traditional custodians of these lands, and further highlight the aim of the Native Immigrant Dresses project to honor the histories, experiences, and ongoing relationships of Indigenous and other peoples within the Americas.

ONLINE PROJECT CREDITS​

Carolina Echeverria – Artistic Director

Cailleah Scott-Grimes – Co-writer, Editing Director

Gina Hara – Co-writer, Social Media Director

Philip Deering - Mohawk Cultural Interpreter

Gabriel Antilao - Mapuche Cultural Interpreter

Nakita Johnson - Video Editor

Olive Reed - Assistant Editor

Derek Christoff - Assistant Editor

Caelin Holmes - Assistant Editor

Zoé Namêche - Archival Assistant Editor

Susan Scott - Text Editor and Consultant 

Stephanie Creaghan – Production Manager

Katelyn Campbell – Social Media Manager

Alessia Canteros – Social Media Assistant

Karonhiio Delaronde - Mohawk Translator

Rafael Favero - Archival Assistant

Ann Pilon - Archival Assistant

Taís da Costa - Videographer 

Felipe Bravo Fuentes - Videographer

Shayle Ripley Didur - Videographer 

Andres Martinoli - Videographer 

Ronald L. Grimes - Videographer 
 

Image(s) and/or video used under license from Shutterstock, Alamy, MotionArray, ArtPrice, and Artlist.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.