Fabienne Théoret-Jerome is a young Anicinabekwe artist from Lac Simon whose crayons have never stopped dancing since she learned how to hold them. She draws all the time, everywhere, and always carries a sketchbook in her pocket—because the world moves fast, but images can capture, retain, and express everything.
Illustrator, graphic designer, activist despite herself, Fabienne creates to show the Anicinabek as she knows them: diverse, expressive, funny, emotional, complex. Far from the frozen, stoic, or one-dimensional image that is still too often attached to indigenous peoples.
“Indigenous existence is already a form of rebellion,” she says. And in her art, this rebellion takes on bright colors, unique faces, and honest emotions. Her goal: to deconstruct monolithic representations and offer mirrors in which young Anicinabek people can recognize themselves differently. More accurately and joyfully.
Born to a Québécois father and an Anicinabe mother, Fabienne is gradually reconnecting with all of her roots—particularly through the land and language. The woods, where she likes to recharge her batteries, become a place of memory, peace, and inner reconciliation.
Among her achievements, she made the illustrations of the book Odibi, which traces the history of the families of Lac Simon. She also participated in the MADAMIKANA – crossroads project, an artistic mediation project led by Minwashin to recognize and celebrate the millennial presence of the Anicinabek through six permanent public artworks installed throughout the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region.
Cheerful, lucid, and bright, she draws because she wants to be understood. And along the way, she changes the way we see the world.
