Local artists mark National Indigenous Peoples Day in thoughtful, creative ways
Filmmakers, storytellers, weavers, photographers, and more take part in the June 21 event
Storyteller Olivia C. Davies created I Am Here Grandmother in partnership with Rosemary Georgeson (whose childhood memories and the Firehall Arts Centre led her to reclaiming four generations of her family) for Indigenous Cities: Vancouver - The stories here | Te squélquel ikwe’elo.
WITH NATIONAL INDIGENOUS PEOPLES Day on June 21 and the month of June being National Indigenous History Month, artists are marking the moment in all sorts of contemplative, creative ways. From in-person exhibitions to online performances to film screenings, here are some vital local happenings to catch.
ch'u7mut cheshá7 temíxw - Giving Back to Mother Earth (June 21)
Curated by Full Circle: First Nations Performance production associate Amina Creighton-Kelly, this virtual land-based video and photography exhibit presented by Talking Stick Festival explores how the pandemic has shifted or deepened our relation to the Earth.
Margo Kane (far left), Michelle Olson, and Corey Payette appear in interviews for Urban Ink’s 20th Anniversary Celebration.
Urban Ink’s 20th Anniversary Celebration (June 21)
Urban Ink artistic director Corey Payette, Full Circle: First Nations Performance artistic managing director Margo Kane, and Raven Spirit Dance artistic director Michelle Olson reflect on the history and vision of these distinct Indigenous performing arts organizations and the community of West Coast artists they serve in online interviews as part of Talking Stick Festival. The event celebrates the 20th anniversary of Urban Ink (founded by Métis theatre and filmmaker Marie Clements) and Talking Stick Festival and the 15th anniversary of Raven Spirit Dance.
sasqets at sx̌ʷéyəməł by Ronnie Dean Harris, Stō:lo/St’át'imc/Lil’wat/N’laka'pamux.
Indigenous Cities - Vancouver: The stories here | Te squélquel ikwe’elo (ongoing)
Indigenous Cities presents memories from Indigenous community members living all across Canada, from skwtsa7s (Island of Dead Men) to the Sto:lo (Fraser River) in this new project by Savage Society and NAC Indigenous Theatre. Indigenous artists Olivia C. Davies (of O.Dela Arts), Ronnie Dean Harris (aka Ostwelve, a Stō:lo/St’át'imc/Lil’wat/N’laka'pamux multimedia artist), Chief Kwakwee Baker, Quelemia and Chrystal Sparrow, and Russell Wallace interpret those recollections in an audio storytelling experience. There are also songs, virtual maps, and videos and locations where each of the stories is rooted. experience.
Davies created I Am Here Grandmother in partnership with Rosemary Georgeson, whose childhood memories and work with the Firehall Arts Centre led her to reclaiming four generations of her family, propelled by the love for her great grandmother.
Savage Society was created in 2004 for practising Indigenous theatre and film artists to produce their own stories. Artistic director Kevin Loring is a member of the Nlaka’pamux Nation from the Lytton First Nation.
Blanketing The City IV: Cathedral Square (unveiling June 21)
Blanketing The City is a public-art mural series and Reconciliation process designed by xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) weaver and graphic designer Debra Sparrow in collaboration with Vancouver Mural Festival. Launched in 2018, the series “affirms the resurgence and importance of Coast Salish weaving on these lands, and directly combats the ongoing systemic suppression of Indigenous visual culture”.
For Blanketing The City IV: Cathedral Square, Sparrow invited master weavers Chief Janice George (Sḵwxwú7mesh) and Angela George (səlilwətaɬ) to collaborate on the design of seven landmark murals blanketing Cathedral Square Park, to be unveiled on June 21, amplifying the visibility of xwməθkwəyə̓ m, Sḵwxwú7mesh ̱and səlilwətaɬ culture on their ancestral lands. The multi-year project marks the first semi-permanent public art collaboration between weavers from the three local nations.
The Hitchhikers at Home! (June 25)
Haida Nation member Jamie Thomson and Squamish Nation member Dennis Joseph share stories, music, and laughter in this Talking Stick Festival show presented in partnership with Western Gold Theatre.
Rylan Friday, Saulteaux Ojibway/Plains Cree multi-disciplinary storyteller, writer, and producer is among the curators of Who We Are Indigenous Film Series.
Who We Are Indigenous Film Series (June 21 to July 4)
First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and Maori filmmakers capture the diversity, complexities, and beauty of Indigeneity around the world in this series presented by the Vancouver International Film Festival and Museum of Vancouver in conjunction with MOV's latest exhibition, That Which Sustains Us, and Talking Stick Festival. The films were selected by Indigenous curators Rylan Friday, Saulteaux Ojibway/Plains Cree multi-disciplinary storyteller, writer, and producer from Cote First Nation, Saskatchewan now based on unceded Coast Salish territory; Jasmine Wilson, Indigenous programs and community engagement coordinator at Museum of Vancouver; and Sharon Fortney, curator responsible for Indigenous Collections and Engagement at the Museum of Vancouver for Indigenous History Month.
Who We Are Film series – Panel Discussion (June 28)
Rylan Friday (see above) and director, producer, actor, and camera operator Odessa Shuquaya, a member of Kluane First Nation, moderate this livestream conversation with Inuk director and producer Zacharias Kunuk (Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner) and Kwakwakaʼwakw/Honduran actor Violet Nelson, who appears in The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open, directed by Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Kathleen Hepburn.
The Ballad of Crowfoot, directed by Willie Dunn, was the first NFB film by an Indigenous director.
National Indigenous Peoples Day: The NFB’s Indian Film Crew (June 21 to July 4)
The Cinematheque partners with the National Film Board of Canada to present a free virtual program dedicated to the ground-breaking work of the Indian Film Crew (IFC), the NFB’s first all-Indigenous film unit. Created as part of the board’s Challenge for Change program to foster social change through participatory, activist documentary filmmaking, the Indian Film Crew, formed in 1968, represented a necessary corrective to a history of settler-controlled Indigenous (mis)representation onscreen. Jointly sponsored by the Company of Young Canadians and the Department of Indian Affairs, the IFC formed in 1968 and consisted of seven members — one woman and six men, each from different First Nation. Its watershed debut came that same year; The Ballad of Crowfoot, directed by Willie Dunn, was the first NFB film by an Indigenous director. This free virtual program features four short IFC works filmed between 1968 and1969.
Indigenous Cinema at the NFB (ongoing)
This web portal provides access to nearly 240 titles in English, including new releases, from the NFB’s collection of works by Indigenous filmmakers. Among the selections are Alanis Obomsawin’s Jordan River Anderson, The Messenger and Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance; Tasha Hubbard’s nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up; and Now Is the Time, directed by Christopher Auchter.
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