Thunderbird and the Birth of Glamour
Created in collaboration with Paul Crombie
An installation done for Pride Toronto in 2025 Displayed at Toronto Eaton Center
In many Ojibwe and other Indigenous traditions, the Thunderbird is a divine force — a guardian of balance, a bringer of storms, and a protector of the people. It arrives in times of upheaval, with wings that shake the sky and lightning in its eyes, not to destroy, but to cleanse, to warn, and to restore harmony. In this work, we draw on the Thunderbird as a symbol of queer power — a presence that is both sacred and fierce, often misunderstood, yet deeply necessary in times of social unrest.
This installation reimagines the Thunderbird as a metaphor for modern queer identity: vibrant, unstoppable, and unbound by rigid expectations. Like the Thunderbird, queer people are often called to exist in tension — between visibility and safety, tradition and change, erasure and resilience. The Thunderbird’s role as a protector resonates with queer communities who have long created sanctuary for each other in a world that often resists our existence.
Created from wood, sequins, and beads, the piece bridges earthly tone and heavenly shimmer, tradition and transformation. Wood grounds the work — a nod to ancestral knowledge, craft, and the strength of living systems. Beads and sequins, often used in both Indigenous regalia and queer expression, reflect light and movement, invoking joy, survival, and celebration. Together, these materials carry the duality of queer existence: rooted yet radiant, ancient yet ever-becoming.
“Thunderbird and the Birth of Glamour” is not just a tribute to queer resilience. It is a reclamation of spiritual and mythic space. It honors Indigenous knowledge systems, while acknowledging the complexities of being queer on lands that carry both sacred stories and histories of colonization. In this work, queerness is not marginal — it is cosmic. It is thunder rolling across the sky.
