Hello! My name is Alaina Perez (she/hers) and I am a member of the Tahltan Nation and was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia on unceded Sḵwx̱wú7mesh [Squamish], Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh [Tsleil-Waututh] and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm [Musqueam] Territory. I currently live in Montreal, Quebec [Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang] where I am a Masters student in the Individualized Program at Concordia University. I also hold a BFA in Art History from Concordia University.  

My thesis research takes a transdisciplinary approach to Indigenous understandings of the senses and aesthetic experiences through my research creation project titled Relational Media : Aesthetics of Decolonization. Throughout this research creation project I will be using the grammar of accessibility to inform my work. I will be dealing with themes surrounding Indigenizing methodologies, opacity, and embodiment. I am creating a material practice that actively evades being known by working within the grammar of accessibility; to generate inaccessibility can be a way of keeping sensitive material safe. I am hoping that through engaging in a material practice in this way I will be able to move far beyond written and spoken language in my research.