White Noise

Taran ‘Standing Sunrise’ Jerry Kootenhayoo was proud to be Denesuline and Stoney Nakota. Born in Cold Lake, Alberta, and a member of the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation. Taran was like water flowing between many different mediums and disciplines.

First and foremost he was a storyteller, and all of his passions filled a big basket that he shared with us. He was an activist standing up for Indigenous rights, weaving his activism and art because he cared about the land and the people. He was an actor and had the gift of captivating an audience by understanding his body’s movement and truth to the words he said; he was a poet and spoken word artist.

That was a place where he could bring his activism, humour, and powerful voice to life; he was a skateboarder, which was also a considerable part of his film creation. He was a transformer. He was a director. He was a writer. He wrote for the screen and stage. He was a fantastic dancer and had style – the poster boy of Indigenous fashion. He had a popular meme page.

Taran was cool in whatever he was involved in. He could steal the show, but he was always generous in his offerings as a person and performer. He just made things better.