digital/experimental media

wenbik series (2020)
Digital film vignettes

wenbik is a series of experimental vignettes created as language-of-the-land vignettes intended for installation work. At the beginning of the pandemic, I found myself drawn to the scenery around me. As the world ground to a halt and the pace of life slowed down, I felt a need to be on the land and to find solace in the beauty of the Nbisiing landscapes around me. The silence I found outdoors was in stark contrast to the frenzied and overwhelming pace of social media and the unending cycle of Breaking News. Through my work, I sought to offer a counterpoint to the turmoil and uncertainty of the pandemic, to create a space where viewers could connect with the land through a Nishnaabe way of understanding, and find a sense of calm and tranquility in chaos.

Filmed on Nipissing First Nation (April 2020 – June 2020).

giizhgaate (2020) [2:00 min] Giizhgaate was created with the intention of being incorporated into an installation (which may or may not include sculptural elements)
maashi goon (2020) [5:28 min]
ni-zhaakami (2020) [1:11 min]

noondam na? (do you hear?) (2019)
audio & sculptural installation
iPod, hand-drum frame, fabric and embroidery thread

Across the world, Indigenous Nations fight for their land, their waters, their sovereignty.  Noondam na invites you to listen to the layered voices of five Nations gathered in protest…and song. From New Zealand to Standing Rock, Brazil to Hawaii – though separated by oceans and thousands of miles, their hearts drum in unison with each other, and with the land. They fight for their rights, the rights of the land, and, in doing so, our collective futures in these uncertain times of climate crisis. #LANDBACK

Audio for noondam na?
noodam na? (do you hear?) – detail

Created for waabandiwag, Xpace Cultural Centre, Toronto, ON in 2019. Curated by Natalie King. Grateful thanks to Natalie for having faith in my ability to get this done on time and for the beauty of their words in contextualizing what I could not within an artist statement. Please read the exhibition essay here: “waabandiwag”, exhibition essay by curator Natalie King, Xpace Cultural Centre (2019).

See also: BLOG POST in parallel – The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery 

Experimental video created for OCAD University’s Global Experience Project – Isaac Julien (2017)
IAMD MFA Program (intended for 4-channel installation)
Recorded on the shores of Nbisiing – Nipissing First Nation
Performed by Kaiden Fontaine

Drumming to Nbisiing (2017) [2:55 min]