2021 AWARD NOMINEE

Artistic Video

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

Solidification
Sammy Chien and the Chimerik Collective

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson is a renowned Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg musician, writer and academic, who has been widely recognized as one of the most compelling Indigenous voices of her generation. Her work breaks open the boundaries between story and song—bringing audiences into a rich and layered world of sound, light, and sovereign creativity. Leanne has performed in venues and festivals across Canada with her sister singer songwriter Ansley Simpson and guitarist Nick Ferrio. Leanne’s second album, f(l)light, was released in 2016 and is a haunting collection of story-songs that effortlessly interweave Simpson’s complex poetics and multi-layered stories of the land, spirit, and body with lush acoustic and electronic arrangements. Her EP Noopiming Sessions combines readings from her novel Noopiming with soundscapes composed and performed by Ansley Simpson and James Bunton, in addition to a gorgeous video by Sammy Chien and the Chimerik Collective. It was produced during the on-going social isolation of COVID-19 and was released on Gizhiiwe Music in the Fall of 2020. Leanne’s newest record, Theory Of Ice was released by You’ve Changed Records in the winter of 2021, and features the artistic brilliance of Ansley Simpson, Nick Ferrio, Jim Bryson, John K. Samson, Jonas Bonnetta and Sandra Brewster. She is also a multi-award winning author of seven books with a new project due to be released in 2022 by Knopf Canada.

Proudly supported by