Meeting by the currents
01
November 7 - December 2, 2020 Chu Niikwän Artist Residency
Meeting by the currents Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre Asad Chishti Robyn McLeod Aimée Dawn Robinson Curated by Nicole Bauberger & Lori Beavis
All photos by Erik Pinkerton unless otherwise noted Catelogue design by Heather Steinhagen & Katie Newman
Chu Niikwän Artist Residency
Chu Niikwän Artist Residency Centred around the shared goal of artistic innovation, collaboration and professional development, the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre (KDCC), the Yukon Arts Centre (YAC) and the Yukon Art Society, with the support of the Yukon government, partner to create the Chu Niikwän Artist Residency as part of their visual arts presentations. Chu Niikwän is a way of naming the Yukon River in Dákwänjē (Southern Tutchone), the main Indigenous language of this place. For the 3rd Chu Niikwän Artist Residency (August 24-Sept, 2020) these organizations opened spaces for three visual artists and a curatorial team to gather and develop an exhibition of new work. The 2020 artists were: Asad Chishti, Robyn McLeod, and Aimée Dawn Robinson, co-curated by Nicole Bauberger and Lori Beavis. COVID-19 demanded a new flexibility of us as we strove to make the dialogues around art that nourish us and our communities. While in previous years, each artist would access their own studio spaces in a venue near the Yukon river, this year’s use of studio space was more flexible. One of the three participated from her home studio in Ross River. The studio visits were replaced with the Zoom curatorial calls and the artists’ open studios evolved into socially-distanced participation in Whitehorse’s Wondercrawl (Sept 5). Making art that seized the opportunities found within physical distancing continued throughout the exhibition at the KDCC. The title speaks of our curatorial theme to come together by the river, tethered in a boat, dancing through textile-wrapped trees at the river’s edge, or sending a float plane with a dress to hand off to a curator to install on the shore. It also means coming together across cultures physically or virtually to create a space for dialogue between artists and curators; and between the artists themselves to share what the river could tell them about making and maintaining relationships.
02
4
Meeting by the currents
5
6
Chu Niikwän Artist Residency
We acknowledge that we live, work and create on the traditional territories of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation and the Ta’an
03
Kwäch’än Council.
Front cover: Robyn McLeod, Beaded Visor (2020). Asad Chishti, Then and Now : Water and a Name (2020). Photograph. Aimée Dawn Robinson, Seven. (2020). Dance, performance, costume, social engagement, installation. 01. Robyn McLeod, The Etandah Dress (2020). 24k gold and glass beads, moosehide, printed cotton, gold bamboo dupioni silk, silk polyester, hook and eye trim. Size 8. 02. Co-curator Nicole Bauberger installs artwork by Robyn McLeod for Wondercrawl on September 5, 2020. Photo by K. Newman. 03. A still frame from Charrettes in and around the Water (2020). Video, 6:26.
Meeting by the currents
7
Contents 4
Chu Niikwän Artist Residency
8
Curators’ Statement
10
Asad Chishti
14
Aimée Dawn Robinson
18
Robyn McLeod
22 Acknowledgements
Thank you to our par tners & funders
8
Chu Niikwän Artist Residency
Curators’ Statement This year, the Chu Niikwan artists in residence found the residency gave them both a new perspective on their social dimensions and furthered their individual artistic vision. The residency moved Aimée Dawn Robinson out of the customary quiet solitude of her cabin in the woods and visiting, hosting or collaborating with friends, other dancers and musicians during her residency. While in the residency she began to accumulate textiles and design her large-scale fabric costume piece. This work, assembled from fabric donated by the Whitehorse community, was danced at the exhibition’s opening by seven dancers, and then installed as a sculpture in the gallery. For Aimée, her residency at the Old Fire Hall differed from her home in being downtown – this was an urban residency for her, a chance to connect with other people. Robyn McLeod lives in Ross River, and for health reasons chose to do the residency remotely. Perhaps partly because of this, the social dimensions of the residency were important to her work too, in the process and content of her work. Robyn was active on the internet talking with friends, colleagues and mentors at the same time as restarting a daily drawing practice through which she created beading patterns and designed dresses. Robyn sewed a series of these dresses
for this exhibition. The connections made between women informs this fibres-based work. The first dress, the “Auntie Dress” (dedicated to her Auntie Virginia) was seen in-progress, as part of September’s Wondercrawl. The residency introduced Robyn’s artwork to a wider audience. Asad Chishti spent a lot of time doing research at the Energy, Mines and Resources library, looking at the history of the Whitehorse Dam, as well as biking a 4 a.m. loop of the city, creating playlists, and sitting tethered in their zodiak on the Yukon River. His work is more conceptual than physical, focussing on the conundrum of living in a place that takes its name from rapids that aren’t there anymore, rapids that have been tamed out of existence by the dam that powers the city. Asad had many conversations with people along the water about this question, and about how the river itself grew in importance to people sustaining themselves through the loneliness of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. For Asad, the residency experience was marked as a thoughtful time to ponder the Chu Niikwan and its evolving presence. Aimée’s dance performance at Wondercrawl, “Seven,” – named for the seven shots officer Ruston Shesky fired at Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Washington – evoked an uncanny silence among the viewers who
Meeting by the currents
9
stopped along the darkening trail to take some time with it. For Aimée, it was a new step to make a dance that was so explicitly political - Aimée wondered about the time it takes to shoot someone seven times. The silence around her performance was a silence that spoke, and that evoked listening.
Lori Beavis
Nicole Bauberger Nicole Bauberger is an artist and curator of settler heritage. She is grateful to have made her home on the traditional territories of the Tagish Kwan, where the Kwanlin Dün First Nation and the Ta’an Kwäch’än Council govern since 2003. She stitches her various art practices together with threads of collaborative learning friendships.
Lori Beavis (Michi Saagiig Anishinaabe/ Welsh/Irish) is a curator living and working in Tiohiohtià:ke / Mooniyang/ Montreal, an island in the Kahrhionhwa’kó:wa /the great sized river/ St Lawrence River. Lori’s maternal family comes from Pemadashdakota/ lake of the burning plains / Rice Lake, ON – a body of water she loves and returns to often.
10
Chu Niikwän Artist Residency
Asad Chishti 01. Asad Chishti + archival aerial images, Then and Now : Water and a Name (2020). Photo diptych.
Asad Chishti is the @adjacent.furniture librarian @bul-bul.press printer+publisher, and the @chairstablesorg media inventor. A first-generation Muslim immigrant, he has bicycled across Canada twice. For the past eight years, he has been tinkering on research projects local and global around what it means to live a full life.
02. Asad’s raft, displayed near the fire pit at the opening of Meeting by the currents 03. Three still frames from Charrettes in and around the Water (2020). Video, 6:26. 04. Portrait of Asad at work by Erik Pinkerton
Asad’s work lives in private homes on bookshelves, and has been featured in various print, digital, and real-world spaces.
01
Themes of interest include but are not limited to: happiness, home, health, hiatus, histories, harvest, habits, _____, and H2O i.e. water. Formally trained as an engineering chemist and photojournalist, he has been taking a photo a day for over ten years, and is currently investigating how to better put ink to paper (in the shape of books).
02
Meeting by the currents
11
Chu Niikwän Artist Residency
03
12
Meeting by the currents
Asad Chishti Ar tist S tatement
Does it give a place more or less of a right to call itself by the unnatural transformation of a place? An ode to what was.
Whitehorse is named such because of the White Horse rapids (which resembled the manes of a horse). One of the most precarious stretches of the river to cross, less than a decade after the city was incorporated the rapids were submerged under Schwatka Lake.
Water holds a special place to all life. Hydrogen-bonding, the ability of ice to float on water, gives life time to survive through the winter, below the surface. In 2020, a year to be remembered for many glitches, warps, and bends on how we used to live, lessons on how to keep moving, the importance of what surrounds us where we are has never felt and been more important.
What does it mean: To lose the place that names you? To have it transformed into something different. To have that loss literally power you and your community? Water into electricity. For this to have been going on since 1958? 62 years.
04
13
My inquiry focused on the site of the former rapids, where the dam is now. Time was spent both on the river, around the river, pouring over historical aerial images, snapping a few, recording audio and then cooking it all digitally.
14 14
Chu Niikwän Artist Residency Chu Niikwän Artist Residency
Meeting by the currents
15
01. Performance of Seven by Aimée Dawn Robinson around the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre Fire Pit at the opening of Meeting by the currents on November 7, 2020 02. Dance garment by Aimée Dawn Robinson 03. Dancers perform Seven inside the KDCC
Jicklinghouse
01
Longhouse, with musical accompaniment by
Chu Niikwän Artist Residency
02
16
Aimée Dawn Robinson Ar tist S tatement Seven. -- dedicated to the healing of all who have suffered from police brutality I was listening to the radio while planning my performance for the Chu Niikwan residency showing in-process. The CBC news came on. In Kenosha, Michigan, 29-year old Jacob Blake was shot in the back seven times by police officer Rusten Sheskey. Seven times. The River pulls our stories from us, helps to hear, hold and share stories. I wanted this story, of whatever art I’m making here by this river, to connect with the Outside. To make visible my heart, to connect with the hearts of others – to join in love and rebellion in times of loss and isolation.
The shared garment for seven people, danced at the opening of the Chu Niikwaan residency show, is part of a formal procession of blessing, action, and reflection. The performance creates time to observe all we share -- the light and the shadows, joys and beauty, grief and shock also. Let the power of our steps, and of our gathering, create and send healing into the world from the banks of this powerful water. I made this 80-foot garment exclusively with fabric donated by the Whitehorse community. The ornaments on the costume are inspired by the regalia of my family’s region in the Carpathian basin, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén region. Part of being an artist can be recognizing and understanding what you wish to do with the legacy your Ancestors have given you. No matter how humble, nor how traumatic, our family’s stories shape our core, and our core shapes our art practices.
Meeting by the currents
17
Aimée Dawn Robinson
Aimée started performing in Toronto in 1994. She has performed, screened, presented and taught dance across Canada and in America, Malaysia, and Japan. Aimée lived in Toronto from 1994 to 2012. Since 2012, she has lived in the Yukon, in and around Whitehorse, Dawson City, the M’Clintock River Valley, and Mount Lorne.
Through her co-productions, Up Darling Contemporary Dance, A MONTH OF SUNDAYS, and Whitehorse Nuit Blanche, Aimée has co-curated/co-produced the premieres of 70 visual art, dance, music and performance works by Canadian and international artists. Aimée lives in a cabin in the Southern Lakes area of the Yukon, where she delights in and sharpens her art practice. She is grateful to live and work on the lands of the Kwanlin Dün and Taa’an Kwächän Council.
03
Aimée Dawn Robinson brings wild spaces, the conceptual, and the feminine to embodied performance practices. Aimée is a dancer. She is also a writer, performer, visual artist, researcher, musician, theatre-maker, teacher, producer/curator with 26 years of performance experience. She holds her Master’s in Dance from York University.
18
Chu Niikwän Artist Residency
01
Robyn McLeod
Meeting by the currents
19
Robyn McLeod was born in Yellowknife, NT. She is of Dene and Scottish decent and is a member of the Deh Gah Gotie First Nations in the Deh Cho Region. Her work is compiled of many different mediums such as fashion design, digital art, traditional Dene art, moosehide tanning and mixed media. She has two years of training from Blanche Macdonald as well as the Foundation Year with Honours in Visual Art at SOVA. She uses the inspiration that comes from family, culture and environmentally sustainability that comes from the resourcefulness of growing up in the Northern Territories. This type of sewing originated when her grandmother watched a nun make a flower out of yarn and she then went home to use moose hair to make flowers.
This makes me extremely proud to have a long line of strong, creative matriarchs in my family. My vision for this line is to have fashion couture gowns as well as a couture outerwear that is inspired by the north and the people who live in these extreme conditions. I have had to create new pathways in learning to connect with other artists during the pandemic. I have used new technology such as Zoom and using Facebook/Instagram to connect with my artist peers and contractors. I am excited to share my collection with the Chu Niikwän Residency. Mahsi cho. 01. Robyn McLeod, Beaded Visor (2020). 02. Robyn McLeod, The Auntie Dress (2020). Black and white upholstery fabric, silk polyester, satin ribbons, Ft McPherson, NWT locally trapped wolverine. Size 8. 03. Robyn McLeod, The Etsu Dress (2020). Black synthetic fabric, habotai silk polyester. Size 8. 04. Robyn McLeod, The Etandah Dress (2020). 24k gold and glass beads, moosehide, printed cotton,
02
gold bamboo dupioni silk, silk polyester, hook and eye trim. Size 8.
03
Meeting by the currents
21
Robyn McLeod Ar tist S tatement
I have been seeing a huge increase of Indigenous women taking the leap into the international fashion stage and now that the pandemic has happened, it has squashed all my plans in sharing my creations on the fashion runways. I have needed to find new ways of showcasing my work. I like the thought of being able to create clothing for my own people to wear that would represent their culture and heritage such as quilling, floral beadwork, delta braid, tufting and hide tanning. I am using environmentally conscious practices that incorporate furs and hides that I have processed myself or bought from local trappers and hide tanners of the north. My biggest inspirations come from both my grandmothers Celine Villeneuve and Late Florestine McLeod. Both were master seamstresses in their own styles. Celine is now in her 90s and still sews and beads when she is able to. She
04
I am in the process of creating an Indigenous fashion design line exploring contemporary concepts and aspects of Dene culture. It’s fusing my culture’s time-honoured craftsmanship with new and unexpected contemporary materials and media. This line is rooted in Dene historical significance and built locally in the north. It’s a way to reclaim my heritage in a time where Indigenous people continue to remain invisible.
is also a master delta braid designer. This style originates in the region of the Beaufort Delta, which is the northernmost region in the Northwest Territories where she resides. The delta braid is a rare form of art still practiced today by my family. It is a beautiful form of appliqué and is ribbon of geometric patterns made from layers of multicoloured bias tape and seam bindings. It has been used for generations on parkas and dresses. As for my Late Grandmother Florestine McLeod (née Lafferty) she was a master Moose hair tufter. Tufting is producing three-dimensional images by stitching and trimming bundles of moose/caribou hair onto tanned hide or birch bark.
22
From Aimée Dawn Robinson: All those who made Seven possible: Dancers Josée Fortin, Jordan Kaltenbruner, Sarah Langlois, Nicole Schafenacker, Lilliana Strauss, Mary Sloan, and Jacob Zimmer. Music and poetry performed by Jicklinghouse: Sam Gallagher, Scott Maynard, and Peter Jickling. Fabric providers and sponsors: Anonymous, Nicole Bauberger, Lori Beavis, Anyes Limonta-Dimsdale, Carolyn Steele Lane, Audrey Sawyer, and Duncan Sinclair. Shäw nithän. Thank-you. Merci. Nagyon köszönöm -- to Nicole Bauberger, Lori Beavis, Blondie, Mary Bradshaw, Patrick Matheson, Scott Maynard, Katie Newman, Courtney Wheelton. The artist is grateful to live on the lands of the Kwanlin Dün and Taa’an Kwächän nations. Köszönöm. . From Robyn McLeod: : The dresses are based on my concept and my designs but I did hire a team to help/contract out the work. It’s important to me that these are seen as my vision and concept. I do not want people thinking that it’s their work. That being said, they are Indigenous women from the north who are very talented and I am very lucky for them to be a part of my team.
Chu Niikwän Artist Residency
Elder Doris Bob from Ross River who is a great support and Elder mentor during my journey though this pandemic and collection. Doris Bob, born at Pelly Banks Yukon. Her parents, mother Mac Bob and her father Peat Bob. Doris taught Kaska at Ross River School for many years. Her Kaska name is Dadis. She was raised on the land, very traditional, loves sewing, story, gathering berries, traditional medicine. Doris began teaching in 1995 and graduated from the Yukon Native Language Instructor Certificate Program in 1999. She was a regular participant in the Kaska literacy sessions offered by the Yukon Native Language Centre. She retired in fall 2006. Shawna Mcleod From Fort Providence, NWT. Dehcho Dene/ Metis Artist from Fort Providence, NT, Canada. Shawna is a self-taught beader and has mastered her craftsmanship through talking with elders and learning from beaders from others regions with n the Northwest Territories. Shawna is not limited to only beading, she is also learning the process of moose hide tanning, pattern making, moose hair tufting, quill work and harvesting materials from the land to incorporate in her art. Kaylyn Baker, Pelly Crossing, Yuk`on “I was just so excited to help you with your vision!!! You have some really cool ideas, I love how you mix tradition with almost like sci-fi.”
Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre Situated on the banks of the Chu Nínkwän, the Cultural Centre is a place where we celebrate the heritage and contemporary way of life of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation. As our ancestors did for thousands of years, we welcome visitors from near and afar to gather in our cultural home to share stories and experiences. kdcc.ca Yukon Arts Centre The Yukon Arts Centre is proud to champion and promote artists and their stories in our community. yukonartscentre.com
Yukon Art Society Yukon Art Society is a non-profit organization that strives to build the arts community in Yukon supporting those who make art to grow and access opportunities through our community space, Arts Underground. artsunderground.ca We are grateful to present the Chu Niikwän Artist Residency on the traditional territories of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation and the Ta’an Kwäch’än Council. Made possible with support from:
Lilliana Strauss and Peter Jickling perform as part of Seven. Back cover: Asad Chishti + the Whitehorse Rapids Dam, A Dam Phone (2020). Python, XML, MP3.
November 7 - December 2, 2020 Chu Niikwän Artist Residency
Meeting by the currents
