aceartinc.

November 1 – December 6, 2019 JOR

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Fire

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erFirekeeper, 8' canvas tipi, latex paint All photos by Karen Asher.

CRITICAL DISTANCE VOL 25:2

Once you start uncovering all that gunk or whatever that is you wanna call it, that’s dimming your light, that’s where you’ll find your spirit,” the old man said to me while swinging his arm from his pelvis bone,

as if he was pulling out a weed from the dirt that was lodged deep within his stomach. “Once all that is lifted and gone,” he motions pushing away the debris, “you will find your gift.” I was just sitting there, working as a summer intern at Canadian Plains Gallery,1 minding my own business. I must have looked sad like I needed to uncover whatever it was that was dimming my light. Or maybe the elder was just going to the doctor’s on the second-floor and that was on his mind, so he thought he’d share it with me. Whatever the reason, he looked into my eyes and said, “Well you have a nice day now.” The old man’s intention of keeping spirit alive is the same feeling I experienced when I went through

Installation view 2

Solidarity for Spiritual Survival A response by

Janell Henry

“

Jordan Stranger / Totem Doodem’s solo exhibition Firekeeper. For in the survival of Indigenous peoples, keeping spirit alive is what is most important, and as some know, this has not been an easy task but rather a daily chore.

This snapshot of the artist’s journey shines through vibrantly when you walk into the main gallery through a curtain of long strips of fabric hanging twelve feet from the ceiling to the floor and blocked off into red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. The values and traditions of the Indigenous community figure prominently in the theme of the room and lay on the surface without fear. I see the perspectives of not only the two-legged, but the four-legged and the winged

nations. Firekeeper, presumably, is the representation of wider relationships within the community, both physically and spiritually. The exhibition carries a form of energy that has the capacity to change our current social knowledge of Indigenous beliefs. This spirit is relayed through the relaxed, positive frame of mind the installations bring forth.

Beyond the covered doorway, the wings of a thunderbird separate the land and the air in the first work Thunderbird Power. The same rainbow colours spill off the canvas and flow to each end on the gallery walls, which the artist says represents all cultures.2 Overhead this two-legged, feathered-creature are the sun and four black lightning bolts. Underneath, the land and the people are in connection with his feet and heart. Thunderbirds are said to be controllers of the upper world and only speak anishinaabemowin.3

On the southern wall, a series of three works, each framed by an orange strip of paint, depicts the sun dance ceremony. This narrative is also connected to a legend from other Indigenous tribes called The Great Race, in which man and buffalo raced in order to establish order in the universe.4 The ceremony

3Installation view Thunderbird Power, acrylic on canvas, 40x60"

can be 4-8 days and its purpose is to connect with The Great Spirit. But to be a sun dancer doesn’t just happen—there are steps before you get to this point that you earn with determination. In Chokecherry Pegs on the left, a braided arm (like a braid of sweetgrass) with a hand pierced with wooden pegs reaches up, wide-open, stretching towards the sun. In the middle work, Piercing, stands a figure with regalia who is connected to the sun’s energy, and has two chest piercings and four markings on each arm. On the right, in Walking with the Buffalo, the figure is emitting a wave-like energy in response to being pierced and tied down with rope to a buffalo skull that is laid out on the gallery floor. Deeply embedded in the structure of the exhibition is healing and acceptance with the powerful entity of medicines, such as tobacco and sage, which are stuffed into the skull. Twenty years ago, such display of sun dance would be shunned by colonial rule-of-law followers and the loud voices of ignorance.

In the middle of the gallery, a tipi is installed with a little mawkwa (bear) just hanging out, relaxing in the work Firekeeper. This bear-clan fire keeper is under the direction of the proprietor of the lodge and this individual is volunteering and sacrificing their time and labour to be a helper. To be on call to the lodge keeper and all those who are a part of the lodge. To be ready to throw down sema (tobacco) in the fire after an intense

4Left to right: Chokecherry Pegs; Piercing; Walking with the Buffalo, acrylic on canvas, 50x23" each

5Left to right: Wisdom; Courage; Humility; Honesty; Truth; Love, acrylic on canvas, 24x24"

prayer or sharing session. On the north-western wall, the sun rises and sets in play back mode in the video animation Four days of Sundance. Next to this, Jordan Stranger’s regalia is laid out in Sundancer, ready and waiting to spring into action. In between the regalia and not too far from the beautiful mawka’s fort are the traditional lawn chairs that invite others to sit together right in front of the installation Sacred Fire, made by someone who knows how to start a fire without paper. Around the fire logs are the Grandfather/Grandmother rocks, each sprinkled with medicine on top, the way they should be, and placed on rainbow fabric coasters. Sitting there by the sacred fire almost feels like being at a barbeque at the cabin (do not say this to the sun dancers), laughing telling stories, enjoying the outdoors and fresh air but with complete acceptance that everyone is there for the ceremony and that everyone is at their own stage of their own journey. The artist gives the audience the opportunity to participate, with a post that says:

6Love, mural, latex paint Sacred Fire, 7 grandfather/grandmother sweat lodge rocks, wood, cloth tobacco ties, sacred fire ashes, lawn chairs; Four Days of Sundance, animation

from deep down in his soul. These daily-life messages, such as this exhibition, help us to see the beauty and solidarity of Indigenous people by nurturing our spirit. As artists like Totem Doodem continue to add to the categories of what is socially acceptable, it is these artists that are leading the capacity to change the current form of social knowledge. This is what we need to do to keep the spirit alive. As a wise old man once said, “well you have a nice day now.”

Please feel free to take a Tobacco tie from the basket and place it in the sacred fire. This is for you to use as an offering for whatever you wish to pray for. The ties will then go back into my sacred fire pit and burned as part of a sacred ceremony. Miigwetch.

Even on the fourth day when I viewed the exhibition, there were just lots of prayers—a truly generous act of healing within oneself and with one’s community. It is within these roles that the community honours each other. The firekeeper does not have a role without the others. On the south-west side of the gallery, an eagle painted right on the wall watches over the exhibition. This makes me wonder, is Jordan Stranger of the bear clan or of the bird clan? On the adjacent wall hang paintings of the seven sacred teachings: Respect, Wisdom, Courage, Humility, Honesty, Truth and Love. The popularity of these teachings opened doors to acceptance for Indigenous presence as social knowledge. Many Indigenous people of the last thirty years were defined by them with just about every Indigenous organization having posters up around the office, schools and other community institutions. However, every tribe has their own way of doing things—Cree, Ojibway, Nakota, Dakota—and they are each backed by their own collective history and reasoning. For example, the animals the teachings represent were also a part of the legend of The Great Race. This example shows that only parts of beliefs have been tolerated up until this point in Canada, marginalizing our people. However it is these partial truths that have had the potency to, at least, offer a degree of opportunity for Indigenous cultures to thrive again. As we move forward from an era of oppression and desperate survival, our next job is not to only recognize Indigenous worldviews as valid ways of life, but to also recognize the beauty and significance of the diversity between the tribes and teachings of this territory.

Stranger writes in his artist statement that his work is a search for happiness, and with the vibes that he is putting it out, he wants us to have it, too. He reminds me of that elder that was swinging his arm around pulling out weeds

7

Notes1 Located inside the Neeginan Centre (Aboriginal Centre) at 181 Higgins Ave, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

http://www.canadianplainsgallery.com/

2 Artist talk on November 23, 2019 at aceartinc.

3 As told online by The Gibagadinamaagoom project, which was constructed in close consultation with elders from the

Leech Lake, White Earth, and Fond du Lac bands. https://ojibwearchive.sas.upenn.edu/

4 This specific story was found on the website of the Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center, an outreach of St. Joseph’s

Indian School in which they referenced the 1984 book called American Indian Myths and Legends, edited by Richard

Erdoes and Alphonso Orti. http://aktalakota.stjo.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=8852

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Critical Distance is a writing program of aceartinc.that encourages critical writing and dialogue about contemporary art. The program is an avenue for exploration by emerging and established artists and writers. Written for each exhibition mounted at aceartinc. these texts form the basis of our annual journal Paper Wait.

aceartinc. gratefully acknowledges the generous support of associate members and donors, our volunteers, W.H. & S.E. Loewen Foundation, the Government of Canada, the Winnipeg Foundation, the City of Winnipeg, CentreVenture, the Manitoba Arts Council, the Winnipeg Arts Council and The Canada Council for the Arts.

aceartinc. is an Artist Run Centre dedicated to the support, exhibition, and dissemination of contemporary art. We do this via an open call for submissions and special projects through which we work with contemporary artists, curators, and art writers, including emerging artists and those from queer, Indigenous, and underrepresented communities. Contemporary art is at its most powerful when engaged with and thought about, and so we actively welcome the public, with all of its nuanced communities.

Janell Henry is an Ojibwe from Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation (MB.) Over the last ten years she has been involved, at different capacities, with organizations l ike Urban Shaman Contemporary Aboriginal Art Gallery, Winnipeg Art Gallery, La Maison des artistes visuels francophones, Cluster New Music + Integrated Arts Festival, A Good Fool’s Hard to find Bluesfest, CKUW 95.9 FM and Winnipeg Trails Association. Henry’s curatorial practice challenges the Indigenous/Canadian dichotomy while working from within both realities.

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Sundancer, men’s regalia