Visual Arts

Landslide, watercolour on paper,
38x 50,5 cm, 2006

• Horizons: Watercolour and Collage
  Paper, Jean-Pierre Pelchat
• Paths of Identity

CANADIAN GUILD OF CRAFTS
1460, Sherbrooke Street West
June 1 to 30
10 am to 6 p.m., Tuesdays to Fridays,
Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

When I attended University in the late 1990s and early 2000s, something happened within me that changed the way I saw my people, the Crees. I have known for a long time that the Crees were adapting to a new lifestyle since the signing of the James Bay Agreement in 1975. It was during my studies that I realized that I had the power within me to inform people about the state of the Crees and the hardships they are living through. This awakening I experienced challenged my art making and myself as a Cree person.

At Concordia University I was an Art History major. Thanks to that program and the great teachers I had, I was introduced to the works of talented Native artists such as Jane Ash Poitras, the late Carl Beam, Lawrence Paul Luxweluptun, Faye Heavyshield and others. These artists captured my attention not only because of their talents as artists but also for their commitment to communicating their thoughts, feelings and views about Native people in this world. All of these artists had or have strong messages to transmit about current Native issues and identity. They were not afraid to tell the rest of the world about the lives and struggles of Aboriginal peoples throughout the world. These great artists inspired me, and my works have changed forever because of them. I am grateful to them.

Jean-Pierre Pelchat
BETWEEN TRADITION AND PROGRESS

Armed with the knowledge I have received from these contemporary Native artists and their art, and my desire to show the people what I thought about my culture and traditions, which were and still are slowly disappearing, I set out to express my views and ideas about the Crees and the things that are happening to them and their beloved land. Knowing that my art could be a means of communicating news, ideas and feelings I began doing so in the late 1990's using various techniques and styles.

The signing of the James Bay agreement in 1975 changed the Crees' way of life forever. I know because I experienced it first hand. Although I was only a child when that agreement was signed, it affected me in many ways.

First of all, it made us dependent on the white man's technology. We slowly put our dogs and sleighs aside and opted for the snowmobile. Then when the automobile arrived we decided not to walk anymore. When modern houses were built en masse in Fort-George, we folded our tents and teepees, and when the television appeared we became lazy. In a matter of a decade our culture and traditions ended up in the backseat of the newly discovered automobile as we drove south on a freshly paved highway to Val-D'Or.

It was not only the white man's technology that changed us; what they did to our land using their technology changed us as well. Thousands of square kilometres of Cree hunting land, our "grocery store", was lost. Animals moved to other areas, fish became poisoned by mercury created by changes to the land. People decided to go to the grocery store for food, because it became easier to do so. In addition, hunting and trapping, which were important for our survival, are today only practised as sports and not for survival. As a result, many of us are diabetic, because we consume foods that are unfamiliar to our biological system. Many of us do not know how to hunt, trap or fish, or show no interest in these important activities that once made us who we were.

Jean-Pierre Pelchat
CONTACT LOST

Why? Because we became too dependent on other people's technology and ways of life. We have completely forgotten who we are. "Iyuu ituun" or "the Cree way" has disappeared and was replaced by something alien, something that we simply do not understand but used by us nevertheless.

I have nothing against technology; I use it everyday, and I am glad that it is there. But it angers me that we Crees were so eager to welcome it that we forgot our own ways and technology, which were also effective. Our old ways and technology were so effective in fact that they supplied us with all the necessities needed to live and survive in harmony with nature and with each other. Now that most of our ways has gone, we are desperately searching for a new identity. Many of us open our arms to traditions and culture that originate from other "tribes." Many of us travel thousands of kilometres and bring back other "Indian ways" in the hopes that it will give us a new sense of identity.

What also angers me is that the Quebec government always looks up north when it needs land to exploit. They come up here, show us money and then destroy the land without considering the aftermath or the consequences. My people also sadden me. We are quick to accept the money the government offers us without thinking how it may affect us in the short and long terms.

We Crees always seem eager to accept money for land that is priceless. Who pays the price for the lost land? Our children and their children. I know money is important - it is needed to get ahead in today's world, but do we have to lose a piece of land, a piece of ourselves in the process? Our leaders must find alternatives to raise money for our people.

Jean-Pierre Pelchat
LITTLE BOY

Another issue that is important to me is education in Cree territory. With all the signings of agreements and our attempts to adapt to this new way of life, I believe we have put education on the back burner the last several years. The youth in our communities are not learning, as they should.

When compared to other youth either in this province or in the rest of Canada, Cree children are below par when it comes to learning.

Young Crees graduate from high school, then go on to post-secondary studies only to realize that they are struggling and will have to work extra hard to earn a CEGEP diploma and a University degree. Most of them will quit school and return home, while some will study extremely hard to succeed. Our school system will have to be changed if we want our children, our future leaders to get an education that will be useful for their future.

These are the issues that I deal with as an artist. My mission is to communicate the reality of the Crees to anybody who wants to see or learn.

In my work I offer my views on these issues, my ideas, my dreams, my goals, and what I think should be done to better our situation. I talk to people in my community about these issues and always try to use their views and ideas in my work. If I can reach one person with the messages I transmit in my work, and make that person see and care about my people's actual situation, it is all worth it. As an artist I am not afraid to speak my mind. I may anger some people, but I know there are others who are grateful for what I do with paints and canvases.

All in all, being an artist does not always mean that he or she must paint or sculpt what is beautiful. An artist has greater responsibilities. The artist should express ideas and issues that are important to him or her and to others as well. This is important because artists have the talent and the ability to do so. Therefore we artists should exploit this ability and talent to the maximum. If artists don't do that, what is the point of being one?

Jean-Pierre Pelchat

Paths of Identity

GRANDE BIBLIOTHÈQUE
level 1, salle de la Collection nationale
475, de Maisonneuve Blvd. East
May 29 to September 2

The Hollywood Indian of old no longer haunts the big screen. Multifaceted characters have taken his place; more accurate portraits of a complex reality have stormed onto the scene, leaving ephemeral or durable marks, the sharp or blurry features of an identity in constant evolution.

Between knowledge of ancestral traditions and mastery of the shifting codes of modernity, artists rooted in the First Nations take up the challenge of forging a synthesis of varied elements transmitted by their families, communities or by the strong impact of a society that often appears alien to them. These artists chart their strategies with the spider's meticulous craft and the hunter's patience. Everything is fair game in this quest with a thousand turns that always ends up bringing the artists back to their own essence and to the sources of what they set out to create. Nothing is ever said but the truth of those who speak it. Everything is a matter of identity.

Jim Logan
NATIONAL PASTIMES, (detail)

With National Pastimes, Jim Logan looks back on his difficult relationship with his father and his filial love that could only find an expression through their shared passion for hockey. Each of the seven paintings in the ensemble is a striking vignette of childhood. One reveals the terrifying face of a priest and alludes to the terror the notorious "residential schools" struck in Aboriginal hearts, while another shows two kids wearing hockey sweaters bearing the names Riel and Dumont, presented here like sporting heroes. From the intimate figure of the father to the historic allusions to Métis chiefs, Logan affirms his sense of belonging with verve, without a hint of nostalgia: the speaking heart is unflinching.

Alexis Macdonald Seto
LET'S FIND OUT ABOUT INDIANS, (detail)

In 2001, Alexis Macdonald Seto created a limited edition artist's book with the title "Let's Find Out About Indians". This artist's book is inspired by a children's textbook circa 1962 discovered in an old book sale. Reacting to the schoolbook's simplistic statements, an artefact of the school system, the artist didn't stop thinking of her own family photos. By pairing the texts in the book with her own family photos rather than the kitschy, outdated images of "Hollywood Indians", Seto provides a more accurate picture of the history, life and complexities of a family of Aboriginal descent. Identity develops within the intimate sphere of personal relationships. Taking on persistent clichés, Alexis Macdonald Seto's subtle humour elegantly and generously reveals some of the authentic events marking her personal history and where one can discern the distinctive markers of her identity as a First Nations woman.

Jean-Pierre Pelchat
IDENTITY (CRISIS)

With Identity (crisis), Jean-Pierre Pelchat shares his discovery of his own identity with us. The work incorporates symbols relating to the artist's personal history. Pelchat, with Cree and White ancestry, grounds his work in his strong roots and attachment to Cree culture. Beyond the dark moments when he felt lost and bereft of a feeling of identity, Jean-Pierre Pelchat's self-portrait provides a powerful revelation of the wellsprings of his art and his commitment to his people. At a glance, we can see which side he is on: his work is by no means a whitewash.

Christine Sioui Wawanoloath
PORTEUSE DE LUMIÈRE

Around Tsehaweh, la porteuse de lumière, Christine Sioui Wawanoloath takes us to a world where spirits, mythological animals, pearl fishers and red goddesses dwell. Is each of her sculptures a lure placed on our route by a mischievous spirit to make us stray from our selves, so our certainties can be stripped away? What if this quest for identity was only one more turn of the fatal screw? And what if identity meant nothing but a name? Tsehaweh and Sioui, Sioui and Tsehaweh, the mystery is solved: they are different versions of the same word, meaning bearer of light. By searching for the roots of her own name, Christine Sioui has found what and who she is: her identity is both an affirmation and a revelation.

Maria Hupfield
SPIRIT CATCHERS, (detail)

Maria Hupfield's two works seem to ask the question of identity from opposite perspectives. With Made in Kanata, she takes an ironic look at the clichés that consign everything relating to First Nations to a few artefacts or practices studied and classified according to a taxonomy that remains entirely foreign to their own worldview. Neatly strung along a clothesline, the figurines made from painted clothespins and their medicine bag recall the constant need to readjust our outlooks: everyday life as a supreme remedy to misleading mythologies.
As for Spirit Catchers, which plays on several levels of interpretation, each of its thirteen elements can be seen as a brilliant synthesis of the wrenching and mending process involved in any search for identity. Each image solves the dilemma of an actual being. The entire work is a reflection on the Indigenous experience. Each of the faces photographed head-on, without artifice, is covered in an acetate film printed with the depiction of a traditional garment: the pieces are adorned with embroidery, braidings or ribbons and fringes. Far from a demonstration of the weight of tradition, the paradoxical result strikes a balance between lightness and grave seriousness, humour and tenderness and between play and responsibility. The work's extreme fragility is at once its strength, originality and poetry.

Walter Kahero:ton Scott
INDIANS!, (TAYLOR), (detail)

Tracey Deer insisted on including works by Walter Kahero:ton Scott, from Kahnawake, in the exhibit. His approach and concerns seem to echo her own. This young artist takes a very concrete approach to matters of identity. Up against the archetype of the Indian in feathers, fashions or cultural practices foreign to First Nations, contemporary Aboriginal people can't just fall back on cultural symbols to define their very being. For Scott, affirming identity is more a question of state of mind, proudly shared among a given group, rather than looking back nostalgically at the past or breathlessly keeping up with the latest fads. His work is a tribute to Mohawk youth and a celebration of the spirit that lives within them, as individuals but also as a coherent group.

The Paths of Identity exhibit is an invitation to visitors to explore a network of signs and signals revealing a quest for identity with countless branches. The works the curators have chosen from the collections of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada's Indian and Inuit Art Centre have been selected to elicit reflection on contemporary Aboriginal identity. The exhibit will also become a network of interwoven conversations, reminding us that identity is an open and constantly changing concept.