Elizabeth LaPensée
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Elizabeth LaPensée is nominated for the third Humble New Talent Award at A MAZE. / Berlin 2020 in collaboration with Humble Original. She is a designer, writer, artist and researcher with a PhD and creates and studies Indigenous-led media. She is Anishinaabe with family from Bay Mills, Métis, and Irish. Website
A MAZE.: How would you describe yourself?
Elizabeth LaPensée: Aanii. Waaban-anang ndizhnikaaz. Gekek ndoodem. Baawaating ndoonjbaa. Anishinaabekwe ndaaw. My name is Elizabeth (Beth) LaPensée. Baawaating, specifically Bay Mills Indian Community and Sugar Island, is where my family is from. I am an Anishinaabe woman. I am an artist, designer, writer, and researcher who focuses on Indigenous self-determination in media such as games, comics, and animations.
A MAZE.: Are you a wild heart? If yes, what makes you think you’re a wild heart?
Elizabeth LaPensée: I need to create to breathe, and whatever it may be in whatever medium, the hope is to have a connection to the teachings I was raised with and continue to reaffirm. I break genres and put the pieces back together in unexpected ways, literally flip conventions, and interweave analog techniques like hand drawing and pixel by pixel animation, all from a place of compulsive creativity.
A MAZE.: Why did you start making games or playful media works?
Elizabeth LaPensée: Growing up, I wanted to play characters I could identify with, but at that point, we were just supposed to be grateful to see Native people included at all. I used to sneak into academic conferences as a teen pretending to be a graduate student (wow, super rebellious) to present these representations to mostly Native scholars. They would leave in shock or angry about games. I didn't want people to feel that way, because I love games, so I went on a path to offer different representations myself.
A MAZE.: Who (or what) is your biggest inspiration? Think beyond games too - musicians,writers, filmmakers, artists, scientists, …
Elizabeth LaPensée: My Anishinaabe Auntie who taught me medicinal knowledge and Anishinaabe elder Mary Renville who inspired the game Honour Water are strong women who have inspired me, and who, sadly, are both no longer with us. I look to fluent language speakers, storytellers, knowledge carriers, and my family to inform my work. They are brilliant thinkers, scientists, and artists by different names and their contributions are foundational to the direction of my work.
Screenshot of When Rivers Were Trails
A MAZE.: Where can we find this in your work?
Elizabeth LaPensée: Influences are woven all throughout, from mechanics to art to sound to writing, punched up with humor. In When Rivers Were Trails, an Indigenous spin on The Oregon Trail (which I used to play in keyboarding class when the teacher wasn’t looking), you might balance wellbeing, gift elders, care for community members, and resist Indian Agents. And, if you happen across settlers with food... Fair warning, if you eat it, you’ll get dysentery.
A MAZE.: What message(s) are you sending out with your works?
Elizabeth LaPensée: I hope to draw attention to issues such as the climate crisis; the impact of colonization on Indigenous communities, land, and all interconnected life; the role of genuine sovereignty (without the falsehood of limiting Indigenous people by blood quantum), but also the power of laughter as medicine, how to balance, and ways to thrive.
A MAZE.: Is there a repeating pattern in all of your works the players may experience?
Elizabeth LaPensée: I have repeating patterns that weave on and off between games. I trade off between grandmother mechanics where you always win and there might be gameplay like encouraging you to try again and stark loss where you ultimately always lose but strive for a high score or you need to pay careful attention and make intense decisions in order to survive. There’s no one right way, there are many ways, with all design choices made based on what best fits the intention of the game.
A MAZE.: What influences your work more: Past (history), present (contemporary) or future (scifi) and what are your sources?
Elizabeth LaPensée: My work is mostly influenced by Indigenous Futurisms, which is a combination of past, present, and future, thinking of the hyperpresent now. I look to those who came before me and do my best to act in the present with hope for future generations. The way I was taught is to think seven generations before and seven generations ahead while being responsible for my own decisions right now. With this teaching in mind, my work spans all spacetime.
A MAZE.: What does responsibility towards your players mean to you as an artist?
Elizabeth LaPensée: Games are co-created experiences between the designer, the system, and the players. I hope to open up thinking in safe ways, because for me, that is the absolute definition of a game—a safe space to engage in experiences.
Screenshot of When Rivers Were Trails
A MAZE.: What impact is the current pandemic having on you and your work?
Elizabeth LaPensée: Most of my game development career has been as a single mom raising two young children entirely on my own and working from home on the other side of the digital divide, so the main differences I’m experiencing now are access to fast Internet and delivery groceries. Luxuries in the crisis. Deadlines haven’t stopped and development continues because remote work has always been my mode. I feel for anyone with limited access to resources and hope they are well, all considered.
A MAZE.: If there is something wrong in the field of games / playful media, what would you fix first?
Elizabeth LaPensée: I just want to see more Indigenous people with access to software, hardware, and funding to make games of all kinds through their own lens.
A MAZE.: What are the three games someone who never played a game before should play? Why those?
Elizabeth LaPensée: Survivance adapts gameplay into a journey for personal wellbeing achieved through self-expression. http://survivance.org/ ; Invaders introduces new players to the history of games while also opening up discussion about invasion and colonization. http://survivance.org/invaders/ ; When Rivers Were Trails can be taken at a slow pace to appreciate the contributions of around thirty Indigenous writers while balancing wellbeing in the face of colonial impact.
A MAZE.: How do you relax and find balance?
Elizabeth LaPensée: I walk near water, sing, gather medicines, and when I need to, just stare at the teeny tiny details of moss and tree bark.
A MAZE.: What are the main challenges for artists in your country to sustain themselves?
Elizabeth LaPensée: Money. While I would love to hire a robust experienced team, there are a lot of limitations. Most academic grants focus on testing games, not making them, which restricts creative possibilities and limits design as well as scale.
A MAZE.: How do you see interactive arts in 10 years from now? In 2030! Tell us your vision.
Elizabeth LaPensée: Indigenous game developers are making more and more games, so we’re already on a trajectory to see a myriad of new games. I’m excited to play them! Beyond that, I hope to see a game engine embedded with Indigenous ways of knowing.