Julian Brave NoiseCat is a writer, filmmaker, and powwow dancer whose stories of contemporary Indigenous life have been recognized across mediums. A member of the Canim Lake Band Tsq'escen and descendant of the Lil'wat Nation of Mount Currie, he became the first Indigenous North American director to be nominated for an Academy Award in 2024, with Sugarcane, a documentary following an investigation into abuse and missing children at the Indian residential school his family was sent to near Williams Lake, B.C. In October, Penguin Random House Canada will publish his first book, We Survived the Night: An Indigenous Reckoning, a genre-bending work of creative nonfiction. His personal style reflects similar clarity of vision—pared back, intentional, and tied to place.

His partner, Joan Scarff, is a beader, seamstress, weaver, and youth worker hailing from four nations: Gitxaala, Nisga'a, Tlingit, and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh. Joan draws from Northern and Coast Salish lineages, thoughtfully and intentionally using pattern, negative space, and material tension to create pieces that are composed, exacting, and at once traditional and urban. The two share a thoughtful approach to how they present themselves and their work, deeply considered but never overworked.

gravitypope recently spent time with Julian and Joan to talk about where expression starts—whether through clothing, politics, or something slower, like beadwork.