Saskia Tomkins holding her Nyckelharpa with her husband, Steafan Hannigan Credit: Photo provided by Saskia Tomkins
Welcome to Small Change! Today, I’m in conversation with British musician, Saskia Tomkins, who moved from England to Ontario, Canada with her family in 2007.
Saskia plays the violin, viola, cello and Nyckelharpa — an instrument dating back to medieval Europe. The versatile performer covers many genres including traditional, modern, jazz and classical music. Saskia is also an artist, writer, actress and documentary filmmaker.
The documentary, Mixed Museum, by Saskia Tomkins was filmed and produced by Steafan Hannigan
In 2022, Saskia premiered her documentary, Mixed Museums, detailing her family history while exploring identity, its impacts and who ultimately decides that identity.
Saskia tells listeners about her English grandmother, Sylvia, and American grandfather, Calvin, who met at a dance during WWII. She also discusses the barriers that kept them apart after the birth of their daughter, Susan, and the war’s end.
Saskia’s mother, Susan, experienced racism and racial discrimination that dramatically changed the trajectory of her early life and profoundly impacted her life going forward. Susan’s experiences in England foreshadowed the experiences of Indigenous children during the Sixties Scoop period of Canadian history. Saskia discusses how Susan finally found emancipation as well as how family secrets continued to impact her mother’s health.
For Saskia, the #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter movements have had a very profound impact on her life. She shares with Small Change listeners how those eventful movements changed the way Saskia wanted people to see her and how these human rights campaigns influenced her journey of self-discovery which eventually led her to declare, “I am enough!”
Watch Mixed Museum here.
Find Saskia Tomkins and all of her links here.
Find Saskia Tomkins music on Bandcamp here.
Find Sultans of String here.
Find Medusa Quartet here.
Find Clan Hannigan here.
Britain’s ‘brown babies’ The Stories of children born to black GIs and white women in the Second World War by Lucy Bland is available here.
We are all Treaty People Click the link to discover who’s land you live on. Saskia is grateful to live on the traditional territory of the Anishinabek, Huron-Wendat and Michi Saagiig (Mississauga) peoples, known as The Williams Treaty.
Support Anti-Racism Join Saskia by raising awareness, driving donations and sharing information in support of racial justice and equality.
Thanks to everyone who read today’s article and listened to my podcast. With your financial support, a little Nicoll can make a lot of change.
You can also find my work on Public Parking, herizons, rabble.ca and my Wix site. Follow me on Instagram, X @doreennicoll61, Bluesky @nicollneedschange and Facebook.
Music: Real Estate by UNIVERSFIELD is licensed under a Attribution 4.0 International License. freemusicarchive.org.
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