Andrea Grant grew up Jehovah’s Witness, but it wasn’t until she left the church that she began looking back into her native ancestry. That investigation led Grant to the artistic path she finds herself on now.
Grant is a Canadian-born writer and multimedia artist of mixed-blood Coast Salish Native ancestry. Whether it be poems or graphic novels, Grant’s work is deeply informed by native heritage, which she weaves together with folklore and fairy tales, as well as more modern feminist ideas.
In 2020, Grant made her first short film called “Modern Native,” based on a poem of hers of the same name. With her new spoken word film “Night Swimming,” she’s followed that same trajectory again, bringing her words to life in a visual medium.
Rough Draft Atlanta recently spoke with Grant about her work and her new film. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
You had a pretty interesting upbringing. You grew up Jehovah’s Witness and started to explore your native heritage a little bit later in life. What was the turning point for you as far as your religion and exploring your heritage in that way?
Andrea Grant: For me, I don’t think I ever believed the religion. It’s very patriarchal and very male-dominated, and I was fortunate because my parents weren’t really that religious. We would go to church a lot – I wonder how I got homework done, honestly.
When I was a teenager, I tried to leave. But they really get you in their clutches, meaning that if you leave, if they catch you smoking a cigarette, or dating a boy that’s not in it or something, you’ll get excommunicated and then people won’t talk to you. So, for me, that was always unacceptable and horrific. But I just sort of, I don’t know, went along with it for longer than I should have. And then my dad was the first one to really leave. He started having what Joseph Campbell describes in mythology as a shamanistic breakdown. He…
Read the full article here