Darian Goldin Stahl, Lisa Boivin, and Sarah de Leeuw

Art and Indigenous health and well-being: The impact of art on determinants of Indigenous health

October 2025

This report details how art supports key determinants of Indigenous health like cultural (re)vitalization, anti-racism, and economic self-determination. Framed by Dr. Lisa Boivin’s digital collage Rabbit: She Brings Dance, the authors highlight how artistic practices promote health and well-being despite colonial disruption. For example, repatriating ceremonial items and teaching languages through song vitalizes arts and cultural continuity damaged by colonization. Anti-racism is bolstered by sharing First Nations, Inuit, and Métis arts through public outlets like murals, publishing, and television, which helps to make Indigenous culture an expected and respected part of daily life. Finally, entrepreneurial ventures, such as artists working together in a cooperative or selling their works online, drive economic self-determination. The sale of their works sustains the livelihoods of Indigenous artists as well as whole communities. While art is not itself a determinant of health, the case studies in this report demonstrate how creative practices positively shape the conditions that enable health and well-being.

View or download the report (PDF)