Jay Odjick Lights Up Ottawa With “Odāwā Tomorrow,” an Indigenous Vision of the Future

A major public canvas in Ottawa is being transformed this week by the imagination of Kitigan Zibi Anishinaabeg artist and writer Jay Odjick. From September 24 through 27, the National Arts Centre is presenting “Odāwā Tomorrow: Odāwā Wàbang,” an original animation created for the NAC’s massive Kipnes Lantern.

The installation is built around a forward-looking idea: Indigenous futures grounded in renewal, responsibility and the relationships between people and the land. According to the National Arts Centre, the animation begins with Turtle Island and looks toward generations still to come. Seeds and planting appear as symbols of growth and regeneration, giving the work a visual language that is both accessible and deeply connected to the idea of carrying knowledge forward.

That future-facing approach makes this more than another gallery presentation. The Kipnes Lantern is an architectural-scale digital screen integrated into the National Arts Centre in downtown Ottawa. After sunset, Odjick’s artwork becomes part of the building itself, putting contemporary Indigenous visual storytelling into a highly visible public space.

Odjick’s artistic language is especially suited to that scale. The NAC describes the work as drawing inspiration from the Woodland school of art alongside the visual vocabulary of comic books. Those influences meet in animation, allowing characters, symbols and movement to unfold across the Lantern rather than remaining fixed on a page or canvas.

For Dopest Natives Alive, the story stands out because it shows what Indigenous creative work can look like when artists are given room to think beyond familiar categories. Indigenous art does not have to be treated only as history or heritage. It can be animation, illustration, comics, digital media, public installation and an ambitious statement about what comes next.

Odjick has built a multidisciplinary career around exactly that kind of range. In this project, his role as both artist and writer matters: “Odāwā Tomorrow” is not simply decorative imagery projected onto a building. It is visual storytelling with a narrative purpose, using the public-facing Lantern to imagine continuity, community and possibility.

The timing also gives audiences a short window to experience it. The presentation begins September 24 and runs through September 27, with the work shown after sunset at the National Arts Centre’s Kipnes Lantern at 1 Elgin Street in Ottawa. The NAC lists the presentation as free.

The strongest part of the project may be its refusal to frame Indigenous presence as something confined to the past. Its central question is about tomorrow. The imagery of seeds, planting and generations emphasizes that culture continues because people create, teach, adapt and build.

That is a useful message for Indigenous youth and emerging creators in particular. A comic-book influence can belong on the side of a national arts institution. Animation can carry community knowledge. Digital technology can become another tool for Indigenous storytelling. There is no single lane an Indigenous artist has to stay inside.

“Odāwā Tomorrow: Odāwā Wàbang” is ultimately a public demonstration of creative possibility: an Anishinaabeg artist taking a large contemporary platform and using it to put Indigenous imagination—not just Indigenous history—at the centre of the picture.

Source

DNA coverage was developed from verified reporting and publicly available information. National Arts Centre.