Response: Our Land Narrative video works explore connections to nature at the Polygon Gallery April 7 to 17
Screenings are the result of workshops with Indigenous artists and Knowledge Keepers
A still from Ash Simpson’s Brash Allen.
A still from Nathan Chizen-Velasco’s Elm.
The Polygon Gallery presents Response: Our Land Narrative’s second installment from April 7 to 17. Filmmakers Jules Arita Koostachin and Doreen Manuel lead an online discussion with the artists on April 8 at 6:30 pm. COVID-19 safety measures here.
THE POLYGON GALLERY is ready to present the second exhibit of work that’s resulted from its unique Response: Our Land Narrative.
The ambitious multiyear program has been as much about boosting emerging talent in media arts as it’s been about sparking conversations around Indigeneity and our human connections to the natural world.
While the first installment, seen in March, comprised installations, the second, running April 7 to 17, features the screenings of eight experimental videos.
The works were inspired by workshops the diverse group of emerging talents took with Indigenous artists and Knowledge Keepers last fall, focusing on connection, resistance, and migration. The result is heady imagery that travels from water burbling over rocks to frost-encrusted forms, wind-swept trees, and imagery of the urban intersecting with nature.
Filmmakers whose work is featured in the April presentation include Colton Cardinal (Saddle Lake Creek Nation), Nathan Chizen-Velasco (Canadian), Lia Rosemary Skiljaadee Hart (Haida-Canadian), Liam McAlduff (Secwépemc Nation), Natasha Nystrom (Metis Nation of B.C.), Ash Simpson (Secwépemc Nation, Splatsín), Veronica Trujillo (Mexican), and Sarah Danruo Wang 王丹若 (Chinese-Canadian).
On April 8 at 6:30 pm, filmmakers Jules Arita Koostachin and Doreen Manuel will lead an online talk with this diverse array of artists. Video works will be previewed online first, and then the talk will follow at 7:05 pm.
The exhibit wraps up the ambitious collaboration between the Polygon and Capilano University’s First Nations Student Services and Indigenous Digital Filmmaking Program. Submissions were open to creators with an interest in visual and media arts, with priority given to Indigenous participants.
Artists and Knowledge Keepers for the Response workshop series included Gregory Coyes (Métis/Cree), filmmaker and Coordinator of the Indigenous Digital Filmmaking Program at Capilano University; Bracken Hanuse Corlett (Wuikinuxv and Klahoose), media artist; Crystal Henderson (Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw), writer and storyteller; Kats Klein (Métis), mixed media artist; Ray Natraoro ses siyam (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh), carver and Hereditary Chief; Amanda Strong (Michif), award-winning filmmaker; and T'uy't'tanat-Cease Wyss (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Stó:lō, Métis, Kanaka Maoli, Irish, Swiss), ethnobotanist, community gardener and interdisciplinary artist.
A still from Veronica Trujillo’s The Journey.
Related Articles
