The climate crisis paralyzes us, not knowing how to start taking action to imagine a future different from today. The Only Animal believes that stories are our compass to connect with the climate crisis. But what happens when the stories are lost? Where do we turn to understand what we value? What leads the way? How do we find the words in a language we do not speak? As Elder Albert Marshall from Mi’kmaw Nation mentions ““The fundamental basis of any relationship is an exchange of stories.” We believe that knowledge is story and knowledge holders will guide the way to respond to the complexity of the Anthropocene.

Etuaptmumk/Two-Eyed Seeing, is defined by Elder Albert as “learning to see from one eye with the strengths of Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing, and from the other eye with the strengths of Western knowledges and ways of knowing … and learning to use both these eyes together, for the benefit of all”.

With the guiding principles of Etuaptmumk/Two-Eyed Seeing, this season we embark on a journey to bring Indigenous knowledge and Western knowledge into a dialogue on the climate crisis. We are hoping to transform this dialogue into stories, stories of Etuaptmumk/Two-Eyed Seeing: Ways of Being and Seeing that embody how we take action for our planet today and tomorrow. We will explore how Etuaptmumk/Two-Eyed Seeing can guide a theatre creation process  with climate justice artivists by remembering and re-imagining how we tell a new story that makes sense of our lives in these climate times through performance.