(to be recognized collaboratively with Michael Green)
Narcisse Blood whose Blackfoot name Tatsikiistamik means Middle Bull was a highly respected Blackfoot/Niitsitapi Traditional Spiritual Elder of the Blood Tribe. He was a Spiritual Elder for Sacred Societies, a Director, Filmmaker, Storyteller, an Academic and an Artist.
Narcisse’s formal education began at the age of six at the St. Mary Residential School until the age of 17. He received his post secondary education at the University of Lethbridge and as a visiting student at the University of Alberta.
His impressive work history began right after high school as Supervisor at St. Mary’s Residential School. Then his work began at the National level with the Assembly of First Nations, the World Council of Indigenous People. Later choosing to work closer to home, Narcisse became the Treaty 7 Vice-President of the Indian Association of Alberta. He served as a member on the Blood Tribe Chief and Council for 10 and one half years. He was the former director of Kainai Studies at the Red Crow Community College where he is recognized as an Eminent Scholar and where he was employed as a researcher and instructor.
He was an advisor on the development of Blackfoot exhibits at the Glenbow Museum, the Royal Alberta Museum.and at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park. He played a central role in having the sacred site of Áísínip’i / Writing-on-Stone recognized as a National Historic Site, then a World Heritage Site.
He was also very involved in museum visits to the United Kingdom, including the British Museum, London, Pitt Rivers in Oxford, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge, and the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter, England, to do an inventory of the Blackfoot collection that is in storage in these museums for potential repatriation. In visiting these places he was also a guest lecturer at Pitt Rivers, University of Aberdeen in Scotland and Exeter, England.
In 2015, he had collaborated with Michael Green and others on the ongoing theatre project called “Making Treaty 7,” which revisits the history of Alberta by emphasizing Blackfoot narratives and was an important initiative around reconciliation. In 2015, Narcisse was on his way to Piapot First Nation with three other artists including Michael Green to do what he loved best: collaborating with artists, mentoring students, and representing the Kainai Nation and the Blackfoot people when he and others were killed in a tragic traffic accident..
Over the past 25 years Narcisse earned the reputation of being a respected leader, a distinguished scholar, an innovative researcher, an experienced educator, a commanding orator, a humorous storyteller and an award winning documentary filmographer.
http://www.cutbankpioneerpress.com/obituaries/article_cc36bcfc-bc69-11e4-9865-afeed1c2e0fe.htm
