Syndel Thomas Kozar

Syndel Thomas Kozar is a nehiyaw (Plains Cree) and white settler Two-Spirit, neurodivergent artist, advocate, storyteller, and community educator.

She is a band member of One Arrow First Nation and has familial ties to the Chakastaypasin Band within James Smith Cree Nation. Raised by her Granny and Papa, residential and day school survivors, in Melfort, Saskatchewan, Syndel’s life and art are deeply rooted in storytelling, healing, and reclamation.

Her journey as both an artist and mother has been one of returning, returning to culture, to education, to community, and to herself. Growing up in the shadow of residential school legacies, Syndel faces the impacts of intergenerational trauma, struggling with mental health, addictions, and neurodivergence, and has spent much of her adult life breaking those cycles through art, education, and ceremony. Living alcohol-free has become a cornerstone of her healing, allowing her to be more present for her children, her art, and her spirit.

Syndel’s interdisciplinary practice, spanning beadwork, ribbon wear, leather work, painting, and writing, explores how art can carry both memory and resistance, connecting generations through acts of creation, care, and resurgence. As a creative and community educator, she approaches art as a living practice of relationality and responsibility, seeing every piece and every workshop as a space to nurture connection between self, culture, and community.

Her work and advocacy are guided by the belief that creativity is not only expression but medicine, something that helps us remember who we are and where we come from. Through her art, storytelling, and community engagement, Syndel continues to build spaces where communities can reconnect with culture, belonging, and hope.