Rosemary Georgeson

Sahtu Dene & Coast Salish Artist, Writer, Storyteller

About

I was born and raised in the commercial fishing industry, spending the first half of my life fishing around Galiano Island and the Salish Sea, sometimes as far as Prince Rupert. Since leaving the industry, I’ve worked in the arts community as a writer, storyteller and researcher. Recognized in 2009 by the Vancouver Mayor’s award for emerging artist and in 2014 as the Vancouver Public Library’s Storyteller in Residence, my work is deeply rooted in my family history on Galiano Island.

Recent Artistic Works

The Water We Call Home : Exhibition Opens July 23rd, 2022

Performance

In the Beginning, Firehall Arts Centre and Vancouver Moving Theatre, with Donna Spencer.

Seasons of the Sea, with Vetta Chamber music, telling the story of the changing seasons along the west coast, from then until now, shared through memories of being a child growing up on the water

Against the Current (the FishStix), with the Vancouver Taiko Society & Powell Street Festival Society

Playwright

Home our Way, workshops with O.Dela Arts, exploring how we define home

Weaving Reconciliation: Our Way, play produced by Vancouver Moving Theatre, co-written by Rosemary Georgeson, Renae Morriseau and Savannah Walling

Storyteller

Crows Nest, with O.Dela Arts and set to a hypnotic, original score by Michael Red. Honoring the ghosts of multitudes of Indigenous women who travel to the edge in search of refuge

A Place to Belong, Co-Director, Produced by Knowledge Network and Lantern Films, this short documentary film celebrates christmas at the very first Aboriginal Friendship Centre and reveals the story behind the movement. Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF 2020) Premiere.

Storyteller in Residence, Vancouver public library (2014)

Research and Writing

A lifetime with bulb kelp
Chapter in Rising Tides: Reflections for Climate Changing Times, ed. by Catriona Sandilands, Caitlin Press, 2019

The water we call home
A research collaboration with Jessica Hallenbeck (PhD, UBC, 2020) focusing on finding my Indigenous grandmothers and recovering their families and stories, from 2012 to the present

We have stories: five generations of Indigenous women in water
Article in Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education, Society, 2018

Contact

R.georgeson3@gmail.com