Artist’s Statement
‘Make Me’ is an erotic poem with a developed performance which borrows from Indigenous ceremony and brings in sensuous elements that exemplify the grounded and tactile nature of Indigenous love and sensuality/sexuality.
Janet Marie Rogers is a Mohawk/Tuscarora writer from Six Nations. She was born in Vancouver British Columbia, lived in Stoney Creek, Hamilton, Toronto Ontario, and is currently of no fixed address as she is awarded residency after residency throughout 2018-2019. Janet works in the genres of poetry, spoken word performance poetry, video poetry and recorded poetry with music. Janet is also a radio broadcaster, documentary producer, media and sound artist.
Her literary titles include: Splitting the Heart (Ekstasis Editions 2007), Red Erotic (Ojistah Publishing 2010), Unearthed (Leaf Press 2011), Peace in Duress (Talonbooks 2014), Totem Poles and Railroads (ARP Books 2016) and As Long As the Sun Shines, (Bookland Press 2018). In addition to this work, Janet was the City of Victoria Poet Laureate from 2012 to 2014.
Janet produced and hosted Native Waves Radio on CFUVfm from 2007-2017. Her music column Tribal Clefs was part of CBC Victoria’s programming from 2008-2016. Her radio documentaries Bring Your Drum: 50 years of Indigenous Protest Music and Resonating Reconciliation won Best Radio at the imagaineNATIVE Film and Media Festival 2011 and 2013 and her six-part radio doc series NDNs on the Airwaves won two awards at the T.O. Webfest in 2018.
Janet and Ahkwesase Mohawk poet Alex Jacobs make up the poetry collective Ikkwenyes, which produced the poetry CD Got Your Back and won the Loft Literary Fellowship prize 2014. Janet and Mohawk media artist Jackson Twobears operate the 2Ro Media Collective which produced the short experimental documentary NDNs on the Airwaves and also developed the multi-media project For This Land, presented as a multi-channel media installation in several galleries and public venues.