Lisa Poulin - Artist Statement

Lisa Poulin is an Indigenous textile artist and fashion designer whose work explores survival, reclamation, and feminine sovereignty through story-driven fibre art. An Ojibwe woman from Treaty 9 territory, her creative practice is grounded in lived experience, ancestral memory and spiritual resilience.

Working primarily with appliqué, ribbon, and layered fabric, Poulin transforms garments and wall works into visual narratives that confront trauma and honour survival. Her work centres on women's power, sacred rage and spiritual return, drawing on ancestral symbolism such as eagles, feathers, moons, fire and smoke to represent protection, awakening and transformation.

Her spirit name, Crowtail Feathers, was gifted by Reg and Rose Crowshoe of the Blackfoot Nation, and carries deep meaning within her spiritual and creative life. This honour informs her work as a ceremony as much as art, where each stitch is intentional and every piece becomes a form of medicine.

Lisa Poulin lives and works in Kananaskis Country, Alberta, where the land, weather and wilderness deeply influence the energy and direction of her work. She creates under the name Sweetgrass & Ribbons (Facebook Page), bringing Indigenous presence, memory and strength into contemporary textile art and wearable storytelling.