IndigiPop X with AC Canales

This year marked the first Indigenous Pop X convention in Denver, CO. With events in Albuquerque, and Melbourne this is the third site that Indigenous Pop X is happening. What is Indigenous Pop X?

IPX Denver is a three-day Comic Convention and Pop Culture Festival! IPX Denver is more than a gathering of Indigenous creators and artists. It is about how we advocate, educate and create connection through art, music, fashion, futurisms, film and more!

IndigiPop X

Friend of the show AC Canales attended the show and has some marvelous things to say about it. AC talking about the event itself saw how a small core of people put together a great show quickly, even managing to get the McNichols Civic Center as a venue. The same venue that holds Dink! every year. He was impressed with the way the show came together, saying they were the kind of people who, “Don’t just talk the talk. Always hustling and making things happen.” With Raphael and Kristina Maldonado-Bad Hand at the helm of the show.

We talked at length about what sets IndigiPop X apart from other conventions. AC shared with me his thoughts on how convention culture has gone from the very specific and genre centric con (comics vs. gaming vs. anime) to the more centralized con like Denver Pop Culture Con, to a new form of specificity. That specificity being convention and media opening up to people saying, “We exist and here is a way to share this with us, and enjoy the work we create. Without it being seen as a novelty but instead a new flavor you are being invited to try. More than anything else…this is not a convention ‘for’ indigenous people, it is a convention ‘by’ indigenous people for everyone. The term indigenous means ‘of the earth’, and we are all of the earth. That is a very inclusive way of viewing it.”

“Indigenous Pop X is when you do it right. You’re showing people what you have to offer,” continued AC, “and inviting them to come and be more familiar with it. Instead of seeing it as an ‘other’, as a ‘novelty'”.

Highlights of the show included the fashion show, music, and dancing. Performers went out of their way to invite people to participate with them in their performances. People could walk right up to them and be part of it. Panels from Burning Metronome, James O’Barr. “Everyone was extremely friendly, there was no sense of competition among the vendors…it’s a good environment.”

This sounds like the kind of convention that we could all attend and enjoy, “It’s not that different from what you’ll get at other successful conventions. What makes it different is the flavor.” They had people from all facets of pop-culture, movies, TV, and comics, “Nobody feels like they don’t know why they are there.”

For more about AC check out his Instagram or Facebook pages.