about | Nasagha

seth cardinal dodginghorse is a Tsuut’ina, Amskapi Pikanii, and Saddle Lake Cree multidisciplinary artist, musician, researcher, filmmaker, prairie chicken dancer, model, and actor. Born in 1994 they grew up eating dirt and exploring the forest on their family’s ancestral land on the Tsuut’ina Nation Indian Reserve. In 2014 their family was forcibly removed from their home and land for the construction of the Southwest Calgary Ring Road. This life changing event has been a driving force in their creative work and activism. They are currently a part of the artist collective tīná gúyáńí (Deer Road) with their mother, Glenna Cardinal. tīná gúyáńí was longlisted for the Sobey Art Award in 2022. In 2020 seth's short film nisguya chu won the AstroLab x Future of Film Showcase Production Emerging Canadian Award at the Images Film Festival in Toronto. They are currently finishing work on a tīná gúyáńí feature length film titled "her name", shot entirely on Super 8. seth has modeled for the brands Lululemon, Canada Goose, SSENSE, Rocky Mountain Soap, and Harry Rosen. In 2024 they played the lead role in the film KLEE directed by Gavin Baird which premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and appeared on their 2025 Canada's Top Ten list. seth is currently recording and performing music as their project sadbirthdays which will release an album in 2026. In the past they have performed and recorded in soft cure/lawrence teeth, The Basement Demons, and Quiet Groove.

Artist Statement

I became an artist as a small child because when my auntie Tania and uncle Chris Big Plume put a pencil in my hand and told me I was an artist just like them, free to create. I came into my political practice in 2014 as a way of survival to reclaim agency for myself, my family, and the land we come from. To me land back is more than just a catchy phrase and prompt to create work. Land back means using art as public protest to disrupt ongoing colonialism that is perpetuated by settlers and my own community. We live in a complex world, where 12 years ago my family was displaced from the land like our ancestors except this time it was perpetuated by our Indigenous community and settlers. Because of this I work to create art that reminds my community, and future generations of our relationship to the land and each other and to show that there is a future for these to exist beyond colonial economic developments. The land, my culture, and my family cannot be separated, I create art for my family, past, present, and future. I approach my multidisciplinary practice as a form of collage where I experiment with various mediums to communicate my ideas, feelings, and lived experiences. Some examples of the materials/methods/technologies I work with are Super 8 film, VHS, reel-to-reel tape machines, film, photography, coding languages, pirate radio, printmaking, sculpture, sound composition, performance, and dance.

My ancestors were forwards thinking people, so as an artist living through a period of unpredictable change it is important for me to continue the practice of combining traditional (Blackfoot/Tsuut'ina/Cree) materials, teachings, and technologies with contemporary ones as an act of resistance and preservation. I compose and record music using entirely analogue technology, I also build and modify my own instruments. I see my use of analogue technology as a direct counteraction to how it has been used to exploit Indigenous people through unethical practices of documentation/surveillance by colonial entities. I also see my use of recycling analogue technology as an opposition to generative AI which is extractive and harmful to the environment. Research is an important part of my practice and is both academic and cultural under the mentorship of my grandfather Tsuut’ina Elder Dr. Bruce Starlight and my grandmother Ethel Jacobs among others. I work with Elders to investigate the collection history and ceremonial lineage of items from my Nations that are kept within personal collections and museums in Canada and the USA as steps towards repatriation. This research has served my own work as an artist as well as the efforts of Elders to strengthen our community’s cultural ties to our very recent pre-colonial past. My work would not be possible without my family and the teachings that have been passed onto me by Elders.

Curriculum Vitae

Lives and works on No.145 Tsuut'ina Indian Reserve, Alberta, Canada.

Member of the artist collective tīná gúyáńí.

Western Education

2019 Bachelor of Fine Art (Painting), Alberta University of the Arts, Calgary, Canada

Awards and Recognition

2026 Music Individual Project Grant, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Canada

2025 Harthouse Farm Art Residency, University of Toronto, ON, Canada