Q&A: Award-winning Indigenous storyteller Tenille Campbell

Forging connections has been a defining theme of Tenille Campbell’s life.

As an undergraduate English student in the University of Saskatchewan (USask) College of Arts and Science, Campbell (BA’07) sought community with other students and common ground among the subjects she studied.

She continues that effort today as a photographer, an award-winning author of poetry and a PhD candidate in the USask Department of English. Campbell—a Dene and Métis artist from English River First Nation, Sask.—is currently the Indigenous Storyteller in Residence at the USask Library, where she leads a project exploring the intersection of photography, womanhood and community.

Campbell is one of four 2024 recipients of the Alumni of Influence Award from the College of Arts and Science. The award celebrates alumni who are having a positive impact on the world around them.

The college asked Campbell a series of questions about her experience at USask and her advice for current students. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: What is your favourite memory about your time in the College of Arts and Science?

My favourite memory with the College of Arts and Science has to be the first time that I stepped on campus. I didn't actually go to the main campus until my third year because I went to St. Peter’s College for two years. And then I came out to campus and I took one of those English 100 classes that had like 300 people in it—and remember, that's more than the people in my high school. So I walk into class and I walk in the front and I see like 300 people look up because I'm late, notoriously.

And I just turned around and walked back out. I was like, “Wrong class!” It was not the wrong class.

But I remember feeling—not necessarily overwhelmed—but kind of like a child in discovery that there was so much that I did not know, and realizing there's so many connections to be made. And just being really humbled by that knowledge and really excited to be on time the next day and to start that process on campus.

Q: How did your Arts and Science education help you in your career?

As someone who's making a living as an artist, which is actually so rare these days, I think Arts and Science has really shown me that everything is connected and everything is story.

There’s this idea that math or philosophy or law is somehow different than picking up a camera and creating a story, an image, a presentation with that. But there's no differentiation. Everything is connected, and Arts and Science—especially arts, let’s be real—has kind of given me a foundation to stay humble, to understand that I don't know everything and that there are opportunities and ways for us to learn critically and through community and through action. It gives a really good foundation of learning how to learn, if that makes sense.

We're so arrogant at 20! We're so arrogant and we know nothing. At 40, I understand that we still know nothing, and at 40 it's not scary the way it is at 20.

Q: What advice would you offer to current students in the College of Arts and Science?

I would say to look for your people. And that just means look for people who have similar interests to you, people who want to go out to play bingo or go out to make Legos or go out to farmer’s markets. Find your people—and they're not always going to be the people who you think they are.

And then find your place in the university. You're going to spend so much time here, so find out where you like to be. Personally, I like the Gordon Oakes Red Bear Student Centre. I like to study there. I like being around people. But in my first few years, I was hiding up in the fifth floor at the library, super quiet, because that's what I needed.

Find a place to be, find a place to study, find your people and it gets so much easier from there.

The Alumni of Influence Awards celebrate and recognize outstanding alumni of the College of Arts and Science. The recipients’ remarkable achievements and contributions have an impact on their respective fields, communities and the university.

If you know a College of Arts and Science graduate who is making a difference in their community, submit a recommendation. Recommendations can be submitted at any time during the year.

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