Sky Hopinka

 

• How does Sky Hopinka use his medium of choice? What inspired him to use video?

Sky Hopinka uses video as a means to explore themes of language, identity, and Indigenous representation. His works blend experimental and documentary techniques, incorporating layered imagery, nonlinear narratives, and poetic storytelling. He frequently includes his own voice and the voices of others to reflect on personal and collective histories.

Hopinka was inspired to use video as a way to reclaim and reimagine Indigenous storytelling. His background in linguistics and interest in endangered Indigenous languages, such as Chinuk Wawa, led him to see film as a tool for preserving and sharing cultural narratives. Through his work, he challenges mainstream representations of Native people and creates immersive experiences that encourage audiences to engage with Indigenous perspectives on time, place, and memory.

• What material/medium/process do you use and how? What inspired you to make your work that way?

As a graphic designer, my medium is digital; my tools are Adobe platforms, grids, typefaces, and colors. My process is research, experimentation, iteration. There isn’t some grand existential reason behind my choice of software, it’s simply the best means to an end.

It feels unfair to ask graphic designers to unearth some deep-seated, conceptual rationale for our materials when fine artists are allowed to create purely for the sake of expression. A painter chooses oils or acrylics because of their texture, their history, their permanence. A photographer selects film or digital based on process, grain, nostalgia. Fine artists can sell an invisible sculpture because they are selling CONCEPT. As a graphic designer —our work exists to communicate, to solve, to serve. We are not led by musings but by the needs of the client, the expectations of an audience, and the demand for clarity.

Our work is everywhere, shaping the world in ways so seamless, so integrated into daily life, that its impact is often overlooked. Every sign that directs, every package that entices, every interface that guides, these are all the hands of a designer at work. We do not just make things look good; we make things work.

So what inspires my work? The challenge. The craft. The ability to take chaos and turn it into something refined, structured, compelling. I design because I love making things visually striking, because beauty and function can coexist, because clarity is an art form in itself. That is my purpose. That is my medium.