A skateboarder and artist from the Cote First Nation is using his company to educate people about Indigenous history.
Michael Langan is of Cree and Saulteaux descent and the owner of Regina-based Colonialism Skateboards.
Langan has collaborated with writers, artists and scholars to create the skateboards which have Indigenous art or historical documents printed on them.
“I’ve been skateboarding for over two decades now and I’ve done a lot of research on my identity and culture,” he says. “Those are two things that I’m super passionate about and I just combined the two together.”
The images on the decks focus on such topics as residential schools, the buffalo genocide and Northwest Rebellion.
Langan has been asked to speak about his business in schools, art galleries and on various panels across Canada.
“It’s always had an educational direction. The main reason I started the company is to educate people on our colonial history.”
Langan’s skateboards can currently be viewed at the Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton and can also be found in various western Canadian skate shops and at colonialism.ca.
(PHOTO: Colonialism Skateboards collaboration with Kent Monkman, The Four Continents. Photo by Brendan Mayer.)