Fragmentary Transmissions: On the Poetics, Practice and Futurism of Listener

How do Indigenous and Two-Spirit methodologies encourage kinship ties and relation-building within visual culture? And how is this beneficial to Indigenous solidarity and security for the future? By reclaiming our bodily agency, gender identities and sexual expressions through literature, film, music and visual culture, Indigenous peoples can begin healing and forming foundational kinship ties that center healthy, reciprocal and consensual relationships. This relation-building can be seen as a retaliation on colonial violence which Indigenous peoples have endured physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually since European contact. Drawing inspiration from Eve Tuck’s theory in their text Suspending Damage: A Letter to Communities, it is imperative to reflect on the representation of Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island through “’damage-centered’ research – research that intends to document peoples’ pain and brokenness to hold those in power accountable for their oppression,” as an example of promoting the documentation of Indigenous suffering as a mode of maintaining colonial power, specifically over Two-Spirit, Indigiqueer, trans, gender-variant and female Indigenous peoples. Alternatively, by concentrating on desire-based research frameworks within these communities through Indigenous visual culture, it counteracts damaged-centered research, which positions Indigenous communities as irreparable – and instead “are concerned with understanding complexity, contradiction, and self-determination of lived lives.” By centering Indigenous pleasure and celebrating Indigenous sexuality, consent, gender and body agency, we move away from harmful colonial narratives that place Indigenous peoples as unlovable, pained and broken. This re-directs Indigenous visual representation as a flourishing, healing and prosperous community for future relations.