everyone who came before me
Artist Statement
Everybody wanting the best for themselves and each other. But, sometimes people get fucked. What do you do when that happens to be you?
It's my feeling that what you have to do is be ready for anything. You have to know when to fight and when to surrender. You have to know how to defend yourself and also the best way to attack.
You want to gain the most material. And then you want to demonstrate that you are so secure you can give it all away. This is what the Haida call the potlatch.
Before you get all worried and offended, I propose we create a space to feel free about speaking certain unspoken truths. I propose that the violence of life is something that art can express perfectly.
If we really look into the nature of power that drives the existence of dominance and submission, aren’t we all equally capable of both? What gives anyone that right? What is it that causes us to believe something is wrong?
The Haida, circa pre-contact/first contact, were fearsome warriors with supreme battle skills. They were colonists in a land that hadn’t yet been politically identified or historically located as a British colony. They were a caste system that enslaved anyone who was inferior to their strength and intellect.
The Haida Nation were the ones who had the most power. So much so, it scared the missionaries, colonists, and traders into committing genocide. It was the Haida who controlled commerce, material distribution, and ensured the health of their communities. They procured and protected their resources. Someone had to be a King. Someone had to be a subject.
Nowadays we know First Nations people are different. We have a different history than other Canadians. There were people who did violence to us. What did you really expect? You think we want your money and your equity?
We just want to be free. We are freeing ourselves. How different are we? Don’t we all want the same things?
Everyone Who Came Before Me is a sculptural installation of seven Northwest Coast transformation figures - Frog Woman, Raven Woman, Killer Whale Woman, Salmon Woman, Mouse Woman, Bear Mother, and Thunderbird Woman. Each individual figure offers a quality of power derived from an eternal story.
Traditional and non-traditional armour and weaponry is a psycho-spiritual intervention to reveal what we are becoming. It is a path of no resistance aligned with accepting responsibility for actively creating a new future.
The sculpture suggests there might be a better way to live, which includes a reverence for history that does not bind us. As immortal beings, the figures are impervious to judgement and unconcerned with expectations. This is an army of free who has no use for customs based in religion or any other dictates of a ruling power.
Men have been in charge now for a while and they’ve had lots of opportunities to get it right. They haven’t. Consider the teachings of Matriarchal societies for a moment. What do we think is missing that we already have? There is no room for interpretation anymore. We need someone to take control. Maybe it’s you.
Everybody wanting the best for themselves and each other. But, sometimes people get fucked. What do you do when that happens to be you?
It's my feeling that what you have to do is be ready for anything. You have to know when to fight and when to surrender. You have to know how to defend yourself and also the best way to attack.
You want to gain the most material. And then you want to demonstrate that you are so secure you can give it all away. This is what the Haida call the potlatch.
Before you get all worried and offended, I propose we create a space to feel free about speaking certain unspoken truths. I propose that the violence of life is something that art can express perfectly.
If we really look into the nature of power that drives the existence of dominance and submission, aren’t we all equally capable of both? What gives anyone that right? What is it that causes us to believe something is wrong?
The Haida, circa pre-contact/first contact, were fearsome warriors with supreme battle skills. They were colonists in a land that hadn’t yet been politically identified or historically located as a British colony. They were a caste system that enslaved anyone who was inferior to their strength and intellect.
The Haida Nation were the ones who had the most power. So much so, it scared the missionaries, colonists, and traders into committing genocide. It was the Haida who controlled commerce, material distribution, and ensured the health of their communities. They procured and protected their resources. Someone had to be a King. Someone had to be a subject.
Nowadays we know First Nations people are different. We have a different history than other Canadians. There were people who did violence to us. What did you really expect? You think we want your money and your equity?
We just want to be free. We are freeing ourselves. How different are we? Don’t we all want the same things?
Everyone Who Came Before Me is a sculptural installation of seven Northwest Coast transformation figures - Frog Woman, Raven Woman, Killer Whale Woman, Salmon Woman, Mouse Woman, Bear Mother, and Thunderbird Woman. Each individual figure offers a quality of power derived from an eternal story.
Traditional and non-traditional armour and weaponry is a psycho-spiritual intervention to reveal what we are becoming. It is a path of no resistance aligned with accepting responsibility for actively creating a new future.
The sculpture suggests there might be a better way to live, which includes a reverence for history that does not bind us. As immortal beings, the figures are impervious to judgement and unconcerned with expectations. This is an army of free who has no use for customs based in religion or any other dictates of a ruling power.
Men have been in charge now for a while and they’ve had lots of opportunities to get it right. They haven’t. Consider the teachings of Matriarchal societies for a moment. What do we think is missing that we already have? There is no room for interpretation anymore. We need someone to take control. Maybe it’s you.