Catherine Blackburn x Melanie LeBlanc

Melanie LeBlanc is based in Saskatoon, and while she’s Dene European and a member of the English River First Nation, she was adopted and became disconnected from her Indigenous roots. For her inaugural collection, titled Convergence, she partnered with her aunt Catherine Blackburn, who created all of the accessories.

Catherine Blackburn, member of the English River First Nation (Dënesųłinë́), is a multidisciplinary artist and jeweller, whose common themes address Canada’s colonial past that are often prompted by personal narratives. Her work grounds itself in the Indigenous feminine and is bound through the ancestral love that stitching suggests. Through stitchwork, she explores Indigenous sovereignty, decolonization and representation. Blackburn has exhibited in notable exhibitions including: Santa Fe Haute Couture Fashion Show, Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week, Radical Stitch and Àbadakone. She has received numerous awards for her work, including an Eitlejorg 2021 Fellowship, a 2022 Forge Residency Fellowship, and the Sobey Art Award longlist 2023.Her work has appeared in various places, such as on the first Indigenous female U.S. secretary of the interior, Deb Haaland, and in a collaboration with streetwear designer MOBILIZE.