Offerings / Offrandes
An installation by France Trépanier at
Open Space, January 15 - February 20, 2016.
An installation by France Trépanier at
Open Space, January 15 - February 20, 2016.
France Trépanier is an artist, researcher and curator with both Kanien’keha:ka and French ancestry.
In 2016, she was the Aboriginal Curator in Residence at Open Space and an Indigenous arts educator at Camosun College.
Her impressive career includes key positions with arts organizations in Canada and abroad.
In 2016, she was the Aboriginal Curator in Residence at Open Space and an Indigenous arts educator at Camosun College.
Her impressive career includes key positions with arts organizations in Canada and abroad.
Offerings / Offrandes is a collaborative exhibition featuring guest artists Charles Campbell, Krystal Cook, Cathi Charles Wherry, Bradley Dick, Farheen HaQ. The multimedia installation explores the multi-faceted concept of gifting and offering.
All cultures experience give and take in many areas, but what makes a gift special and an offering meaningful?
In this installation, the curator creates a gathering space to engage both Indigenous and non-Indigenous audiences.
“I ask people to recall past offerings, and contemplate what can be given now,” says Trépanier.
All cultures experience give and take in many areas, but what makes a gift special and an offering meaningful?
In this installation, the curator creates a gathering space to engage both Indigenous and non-Indigenous audiences.
“I ask people to recall past offerings, and contemplate what can be given now,” says Trépanier.
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France Trépanier
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Offerings / Offrandes has three components: longhouse, website and performative rituals
Longhouse. The heart of the exhibition is a contemporary version of a traditional structure. The armature of the longhouse is partly draped with white cloth. Projected on the cloth are mysterious time-lapse images of the sky, viewed from Listuguj territory over a 24-hour period. The longhouse invites, protects and reminds us that land and sky are intimately connected in Aboriginal cosmology.
At the opening, Trépanier recalled her mentor and collaborator Rene Martin, a senior Miʼgmaq artist from the Listuguj community in Gaspé, Quebec. “He gave me the teachings and practical knowledge I needed to cut down the maple saplings and lash them together.” The longhouse was created and premiered in 2012 at Vaste et Vague, an artist run centre in Gaspé.
Longhouse Install Crew; From left: Amina Creighton-Kelly, France Trépanier, Guylaine Langlois, Director of Vaste et Vague artist-run centre, Brandon Poole, Open Space technician Miles Giesbrecht.
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The Offerings website invites contributions by the community. The site, a keeper of special images and sounds, welcomes your text, music, video and photos. www.offerings-offrandes.com
The Art Openings webpage features four of the five videos looped at the exhibition. Visitors to Open Space guests can view the looped videos wearing headphones. Instead of Krystal Cook’s looped video, I have included her introductory comments at the opening. Kirk Schwartz provided the video shoots and remarkable photographs of the artists’ hands.
Krystal Cook is a Kwakwaka'wakw Woman from the ‘Namgis First Nation of Alert Bay, B.C. She is a theatrical performer, well-known for her one-woman show Emergence and mini-play The Lesson. Cook is an educator who supports the preservation of the Kwak’wala language. Her artist talk at the opening reveals her skills and motivations.
Born in Jamaica, Charles Campbell holds a BFA from Concordia University and a MA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College. Campbell is the former Chief Curator of the National Gallery of Jamaica. The artist uses painting, performance and installation to look at the complex dynamics at play in Caribbean culture. “Elletson Road” describes an experience Campbell had with a casual acquaintance who revealed some alarming secrets.
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Cathi Charles Wherry is Anishnaabeque, and a member of the Rama Mnjikaning First Nation, birthplace of her father. Through her mother, she has European roots. She holds a BFA with Honours from UVic and works as an artist and curator. In 2016, Wherry celebrates 20 years as Art Programs Manager for the First Peoples’ Cultural Council. “Offering Back” honours the four directions that surround her personal horizon. She grinds pigments of Red, Yellow, Black and White to colour the collected stones. She plans to carry the stones to special places around her home and offer them back to the land.
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Bradley Dick has Lkwungen, Mamalilikulla and Ditidaht ancestry. His carved, ceremonial poles beautify City Hall and the Songhees Wellness Centre. The artist has many commissions residing in international collections. Locals appreciate his contemporary designs on clothing, sculptures and original paintings. A “K’owaht” is a drum made from a hollowed out cedar plank used in traditional winter ceremonies. Today hand drums are used. As a drummer, Dick made a smaller version of a K’owaht which he plays in the video. The song reminds the listener of our responsibilities to future generations. “To work with one heart and one mind” to strengthen the pathway for our children. |
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Farheen HaQ received her BA in International Development (1998) from the University of Toronto, her BEd (2000) from the University of Ottawa and her MFA in Visual Arts (2005) from York University. HaQ’s media-based practice explores rituals of family and community through body centred movement and gesture. Her work exhibits widely in Canada and abroad. In “Drinking from my Mother’s Saucer” HaQ recalls warm childhood memories of family gatherings. At that time she drank cooled chai from her mother’s saucer. Today, her heirloom bone-china teacup in the video is made from buffalo bones. The sound of hooves brings to mind many images and emotions in her life, spilling over, then subsiding.
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On January 15 guests gathered at Open Space to celebrate the opening of Offerings / Offrandes. Guest comments below:
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On January 15 guests gathered at Open Space to celebrate the opening of Offerings / Offrandes. Guest comments below:
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Gerry Ambers is a Kwakwaka'wakw elder and artist born in Alert Bay. She studied carving with First Nations artist Doug Cramner and has a BFA from the University of Victoria. Ambers is Elder in Residence at Open Space, leading a series of Circle Ceremonies in collaboration with curators. Circles invite guests to share perspectives and personal insights on various topics. Gerry Ambers enjoyed the relaxed, natural unfolding of the opening events. “It seemed like a true coming together of people from everywhere,” she says. She found the diversity of the offerings quite refreshing. Ambers was especially moved by the video with coloured stones symbolizing four directions. (Cathi Charles Wherry) |
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Dr Andrea Walsh is a visual anthropologist who studies aboriginal art and visual culture in Canada. Her research focuses on aboriginal children's art produced in the Residential School system, and its role in reconciliation. Through writing and curating, she explores the contemporary art practices of Indigenous artists. Walsh has directed the Visiting Artist Program at the Department of Anthropology since 2011. Her ancestry includes Interior Salish and the British Isles.
Walsh appreciates how the artists’ hands act as portraiture in the photographs. “The appearance of the hands is as unique as each offering,” she says. Hands also bear witness to the passing of time, collecting lines and markings, while giving life and healing. |
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Belinda is a second year student in the Writing Department at the University of Victoria. Her journalism assignment involves writing a critical review of Offerings. The students were given a choice of several current shows in Victoria. “I must analyze the exhibition to see if it is successful,” she explains. Belinda mentions that the Offering videos have opened her mind about the content and meaning of “art”. Her favourite kind of writing to do is fiction. |
Chief Rande Cook (K'alapa) was born in Alert Bay and now lives and works in Victoria. Cook brings a contemporary twist to traditional design elements and works in wood, metal and jewelry. His clientele is international and he shows locally in commercial and public galleries. “The longhouse gives me the feeling of moving through time and space,” says Cook. He appreciates the sense of flying and transcendent nature of the captivating structure. |
Rande Cook & Kate Cino
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France with Kate Cino
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France with Krystal Cook
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Open Space is located at 510 Fort Street, 2nd floor. Hours: Noon–5:00 p.m. Tuesday–Saturday Phone 250.383.8833
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Web Design, Content and Selected Photos by Kate Cino Kate is an arts writer published in Focus, Yam and Boulevard. She has a History in Art degree and Public Relations certificate from UVic. This website and its content is copyright of Art Openings, 2009. All rights reserved. Written permission is required for reproduction of photos or text. kate-cino@shaw.ca 250 598-4009 |