The Terra Sapiens Podcast

Multidisciplinary artist Ruby Singh joins Damian to explore the intersections of art, spirituality, myth, and decolonial practice. From Sikh teachings to West Coast Indigenous stories, Ruby shares how relationality and kinship shape his creative process, placing care and collaboration above product. The conversation dives into perfectionism, the Western art canon, and re-centering artistic value around empathy, community, and ecological connection. With projects like Polyphonic Garden and Kraken & Kin, Ruby imagines a “cathedral of creation” where all beings are interconnected, and art becomes a living act of solidarity.

Scientist Laura Pereira introduces the Nature Futures Framework, a tool designed to help communities imagine and co-create thriving futures for both people and nature. In conversation with Damian, she shares stories from her work across continents, emphasizing the value of narrative, creativity, and cross-disciplinary collaboration. This episode highlights how scientists and artists together can seed hopeful, actionable visions for a just ecological transition.

Caroline Nepton Hotte, Innu scholar from Mashteuiatsh and professor at UQAM, shares the five “Rs” of relational methodology—Respect, Reciprocity, Relation, Relevance, and Refusal—as an ethical guide for artists working with Indigenous communities. She discusses how Indigenous female artists reclaim cultural identity, resist colonial representations, and create spaces of visual sovereignty through decolonized aesthetics and digital practices. Rooted in her project Ashetatau (“to follow in someone’s footsteps”), the conversation offers vital insights into art within Indigenous worldviews.

Transdisciplinary artist and cultural mediator Claudia Chan Tak discusses the generative power of tenderness, heritage, and intergenerational memory in her creative work. Together with Damian, she explores how preserving intimate family narratives becomes a radical act of cultural resistance. The conversation illuminates how art can be a vessel for healing, joy, and the complexity of diasporic identities, especially in the face of erasure and environmental loss.

Ecologist Ciara Raudsepp joins Damian to explore the role of compassion, curiosity, and storytelling in conservation. Using vivid examples from her fieldwork, including the endangered blue slug, Ciara illustrates how emotional connection can motivate action for biodiversity. The conversation challenges purely data-driven environmentalism, advocating instead for an approach grounded in empathy, relationships, and cultural values.