What is Visual Sovereignty? - Notes from conversation between Jolene Rickard and Lucy Lippard

Above are my sketches that I did before the talk began. In red ink.

What does Visual Sovereignty look like? What does indigeneity mean?
These were some of the many questions that Jolene Rickard (JR) and Lucy Lippard (LL) discussed at the Santa Fe Art Institute. I think there are many answers to these questions and I continue to think about them often.

The following are just a few notes that I made while listening to the conversation.
JR: Its troubling that at venues such as the Biennale, there is a lack of recognition of indigenous space as discrete political space.
LL: How do you theorize this indigenous space?
JR: For me its been a trauma… I don’t think most Native artists would agree with me, they have sympathy with the idea that artists should fold into the larger art world. This is a form of erasure of indigenous artists.
LL: Artists first and Native second? What is indigeneity?
JR: We have land bases, we need to maintain relationships to it. There came a moment when I had to go back. I’ve worked a lifestyle where I can maintain a relationship with my community.
LL: How do we theorize indigenous art?
JR: What is the philosophical setting of our work? If the artist has a thin knowledge of their culture, than what is going back to their community? Artists have a responsibility to their communities. Often it is difficult to have the background understanding to indigenous arts, we don’t have texts that contribute to alternate understandings of indigeneity.

Afternote: JR is currently working on a book called Visual Sovereignty as well as a journal called Global Aesthetics, which will reverse the dearth of scholarship on indigenous artists.

Kateri Tekakwitha rises again at MoCNA

Kateri Tekakwitha was back from the dead at the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, on Friday night. Not really. But seriously, i felt like she was there with me as i went through the new exhibition Soul Sister: Kateri Tekakwitha. The nineteen varied interpretations of Kateri Tekakwitha (Mohawk), who was a sixteenth century saint, were layered and rich, drawing the viewer to contemplate and reflect on different aspects of her life: that of saint, sufferer, Native woman, icon, Indian princess, reverent, sauvauge, blessed. I really enjoyed the plethora of media, beadwork, film, painting and sculpture used to give this saint new life blood and the overlapping of these media in the space. For example, a video of Kateri screened against a backdrop of pages from the Old Testament, showed an embodiment of Kateri bleeding and suffering with cuts on her face and body, an intense meditation on the personal and spiritual tribulations that this woman went through and a criticism of colonial power, namely the Catholic church, which has used this saint as an example of the converted "savage." Across the space, Rosalie Favell's beaded devotional piece with a film of her in a red Hudson Bay blanket and sash on the interior, was like a votive offering to the saint and also reminds one of how clothing has been used by metis and other native people to reclaim their identity. Moving through the space, I was drawn to a large altar piece, by Sherry Farrell Racette, with paintings on hide of Kateri juxtaposed with english, french and Anishinaabek text, reminescent of illminated manuscripts. The altar was a bowl with rosary beads, placed ontop of a hide, suitable for this native saint, at once personal and immediate. The sounds of a fire crackling allowed the viewer to think of this saint as a person, making bannock bread over the fire.
These are just some of my first impressions. I need to return to visit with Kateri again.

(image courtesy of Museum of Contemporary Native Arts)

Crafting and reading Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country

The new year is in full swing and i've been doing a lot of crafting to celebrate. Check out my new page which displays the crafty items in my etsy shop.

I've also been reading a lot of poetry by Native word warriors recently and find myself drawn to the freedom of verse. In particular Louise Erdrich's Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country and Linda Hogan's The Book of Medicines.

Erdrich's work, although not exactly poetry, reads smooth and clear as water. Her novel explores the complex and heartfelt connections between literary and physical representations of Anishinaabe (Ojibwe, Chippewa) homelands. Written from her personal experiences, her work is easily accessible and allows the reader to experience the sensuous details of the islands and the books that have such an important role in her life as a reader, writer and lover of books. Throughout the novel, Erdrich intersperses Anishinaabe words with English - adding another layer to the richness of this memoir and exploration within traditional Anishinaabe lands. In the excerpt here, she describes a perfect summer day, spent with her daughter Kizhikok,

"A hot wind blows over the island, and Kizhikok and I are in and out of the water all afternoon. We edge ourselves carefully down a stone stairway into the cool tea-colored water of Rainy Lake. Pushing off, we float together, into the channel, sighing in dreamy relief. We bob along in our life jackets, talking part Ojibwe, part English, and part mother-baby nonsense. The world is perfect." (pg 118)

On the trail of Frances Anne Hopkins

Over the holiday break, i flew back to Toronto and visited with my family. I did a lot of knitting and reading books such as Celluloid Indians, and i also had the great privelege of seeing Frances Anne Hopkins Lachine Sketchbook at the Royal Ontario Museum, in Toronto.
Frances Anne Hopkins was a British self-trained artist who came to Canada to accompany her husband Edward Hopkins while he worked as chief trader for the Hudson Bay Company in Lachine (near Montreal, Quebec). She sketched and painted while she was in Canada and this sketchbook is therefore a valuable memoir of her time here. Of particular interest to me are several of her rough landscape sketches and the chance to glimpse the inner working of her mind, she often left notes scribbled on the pages. It was really exciting to see this sketchbook and it leads me to wonder if there are any other sketcbooks by her out there...
Click on the ROM link to see more of her sketches!

(images courtesy of the Royal Ontario Museum)