[Kent Monkman at the alberta gallery of art]

 

If you are a fan of Kent Monkman as I am, and live in the Edmonton area, here's an opportunity to see four of his works -- at the Alberta Gallery of Art.

On until May 21, 2023, the Generations exhibit includes the three works seen above plus one more in another gallery. 

Of particular interest to me were the two paintings seen at the centre and right above (Resurgence of the People, and Welcoming the Newcomers, respectively). As you can see, they are large and detailed -- yet these are the studies for the final versions that are at the Metropolitan Museum of Art... final versions which are monumental at 11' x 22' in size. Nonetheless, as I can't get to New York anytime soon, it was amazing to see them this close up!

The artwork in the front is a "sculptural installation Museological Grand Hall by the contemporary Mi'kmaw artist Ursula Johnson [which] evokes a silent vigil for her female ancestors - makers of baskets..." (from the museum label).

[family behaviours that increase your LGBTQ+ / Two Spirit child's health and well-being]

"Research from the Family Acceptance Project found more than 50 family accepting behaviours that help protect your lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer-identified (LGBTQ) / Two Spirit child against health risks like depression, suicide and illegal drug use and help to increase your LGBTQ / 2S child's self-worth, health and well-being." (from poster)

"A little change makes a difference in decreasing your child's isolation and risk
and giving them hope that their family will be there for them."

This project has several great posters available for free in PDF, sized for various printing purposes. This image shows a portion of one of the posters. 

Article on this project: https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2021/11/26/saving-two-spirit-and-indigenous-lgbtq-youth

Direct link to project page and posters: https://familyproject.sfsu.edu/content/family-acceptance-project-healthy-futures-posters-american-indian-communities

[shame and prejudice - a story of resilience (book and exhibition)]

"Kent Monkman’s Shame and Prejudice: A Story of Resilience takes you on a journey through the past 150 years of Canada. It is a journey that reclaims and reinserts Indigenous voices into the collective memory of our country, challenging and shattering colonial ideas of our history."

(from website)

Through his art, Kent Monkman has been critiquing the colonial world of the museums which have been so silent about Canada's history of colonization, which have presented the colonizers' view of history, which have whitewashed the horrible things that were done.

Expand your mind by taking part in this excellent curatorial tour of the exhibition:

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mACqPVUXzk8

Read the book online, in Cree, English and French: https://online.fliphtml5.com/xkla/ttia/#p=1. Note: I'd suggest watching the above video first, as it gives a clearer explanation if you are new to this.

a practical guide to the new world of pronouns

Here's a great learning opportunity that I've created for you -- a practical guide to the new world of pronouns. 

This 36 minute video covers key topics like:

• Correct Pronouns Matter
• People Who Might Use Other Pronouns
• Pronouns for the New World We Live In
• Getting Practical About Sharing Pronouns
• Messing up with Grace

Link to watch directly at YouTube.com: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdtVLgU6OxA&t=6s

[LGBTQ2S artists from the north featured at Qaumajuq]

"A commitment to showcase diversity is at the heart of the Winnipeg Art Gallery's new addition, Qaumajuq, the world's largest public collection of Inuit art — and that includes highlighting a range of works by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and two-spirit creators from the north."

From https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/qaumajuq-lgbtq2-artists-winnipeg-art-gallery-inuit-art-inua-1.5963732, written by Bryce Hoye.

Along with works of art by queer artists, two of the four Inuk co-curators of the inaugural exhibit are queer. You can read more and see pictures here.

What I'd like to focus on here, is some key quotes:

"I think it's a moment in time where we're ready for a push for the broader communities and every small town and everywhere to have more space and understanding for diversity and gender expression and peoples' sexual attractions." (Asinnijaq)

"The effects of colonialism and capitalism — of homophobic, anti-trans sentiments — still run deep in many communities, northern or not. It's important that we raise up these community members who are unafraid to be themselves, and I also understand that it's a privilege to be able to come out and live openly as queer." (Kablusiak)

"It's really important because I am thinking of all the young LGBTQ Inuit living all across the north, and throughout southern Canada and all around the world, and I want them to see this." (Heather Igloliorte). 

This is about representation -- seeing others like you in the world around you.

This is about returning to traditional values -- where everyone belonged and had a role in the community.

Read more about the INUA exhibit here.

Read more about Qaumaju, the amazing new gallery, here.

Read more articles and see many photos of artwork, at the Inuit Art Quarterly website.

The Inuit Art Foundation, in conjunction with the Smithsonian, held a webinar on Conversations: Queer Inuit Art, which can be viewed at https://youtu.be/_SlEIkTCJ8M.

tastawiyiniwak

Edmonton has recreated its electoral ward boundaries, and at the same time, named the new wards based on names gifted by the Committee of Indigenous Matriarchs. 

I’d like to highlight one new ward in particular:

tastawiyiniwak - ᑕᐢᑕᐃᐧᔨᓂᐊᐧᐠ

You may have heard of the term “Two Spirit”, used to refer to Indigenous people who do not fit a Western gender binary and who had specific roles and responsibilities in their nations. The term is a cross-nation umbrella term for use only by Indigenous peoples, coined in contrast to Western labels and because many original Indigenous words have been lost due to the impact of colonization. 

Tastawiyiniwak – pronounced TASS-TAW-WIN-EE-WOK – is the Cree-specific word for those who are Two Spirit. It means “the in-between people”, and “was only used when referring to all of the iskwêhkânak ekwah nâpêhkânak. Each was free to move between gender roles”. 

To clarify, iskwêhkânak is the Cree word for “fake woman” (but without the negative connotations) and nâpêhkânak is the Cree word for “fake man”. Depending on the Cree nations, there were up to five additional words for gender beyond the “traditional Western” words male and female. Tastawiyiniwak is a word that refers to all Cree people whose gender roles are other than male or female. 

So why was this name gifted to that particular new ward?

Terri Suntjens, Director of Indigenous Initiatives at MacEwan University, explains:

“We have grandmothers within our spiritual realm, within our ceremonies, that sit in different directions. We have the east, the west, the south, the north, the southeast. They each have different responsibilities. They look after different people and have different … responsibilities. And so, the grandmother that sits in the north direction, when the pipe is gifted and held up to the north, is the grandmother that takes care of our LGBTQ2S+ community” (shared at Edmonton Council meeting, Sept. 21, 2020)

---

For more information:

Introduction to Two Spirit People

Edmonton's Ward Naming

[electoral wards in Edmonton given new names by Committee of Indigenous Matriarchs]

Edmonton has revised its electoral boundaries, and at the same time, renamed all the wards with Indigenous names selected by the Committee of Indigenous Matriarchs. 

My new ward is #5, named O-day'min, meaning strawberry or heart berry. 

The city's page about the new wards includes explanations of the new names, pronunciation guides, and information about how the name was chosen for that ward.

If you live in Edmonton, check out your new ward using the links at the bottom of this post.

How did this come about?

introduction to two spirit people

In the fall of 2018, my colleague and I met with Jeff Chalifoux, then one of the co-chairs of the Edmonton 2 Spirit Society. Our conversation led to two "Two Spirit Ceremony and Workshop" days being held at my place of work. 

I attended both sessions and they were amazing and enlightening. Over the months that followed, I read many, many articles about Two Spirit people, mostly by Indigenous academics, of whom many were themselves Two Spirit. I also attended another Two Spirit ceremony at MacEwan University in March 2020, led by Elder Leonard Saddleback.

One of the outcomes of this learning focus is that I wrote a crisp, two page article titled "Introduction to Two Spirit People", which I'd like to share with you. I'd also like to thank Jeff for giving the final draft a helpful once-over!

Read: Introduction to Two Spirit People

I welcome your thoughts and feedback using the Comments section below.

[revision and resistance - kent monkman]

My birthday present just arrived in the mail, and I'm super excited about it:

In collaboration with Kent Monkman and his studio, the Art Canada Institute is publishing a book on the commission and creation of his diptych unveiled at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art this week. Revision & Resistance: mistikôsiwak at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which will be available for sale in March 2020, celebrates Monkman’s groundbreaking paintings with essays by today’s most prominent voices on Indigenous art and Canadian painting. (source: the Art Institute of Canada webpage)

Kent Monkman is a  Cree two-spirited artist living in the Toronto area whose work I've been following for a few years. He combines traditional European painting techniques with Indigenous imagery with critiques of colonization and Eurocentric views of history.

Here is one of the two pieces that he created for the Met:

Read more about the book:
https://aci-iac.ca/news/art-canada-institute-in-collaboration-with-kent-monkman

View my post about Monkman's exhibit, "The Rise and Fall of Civilization", at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary last year.

[rise and fall of civilization - exhibit]

In the late summer of 2019, I visited the Glenbow Museum with one specific goal in mind: to see the exhibit "The Rise and Fall of Civilization" by Kent Monkman, a Cree two-spirit artist based in Toronto.

From the museum's website:

Kent Monkman’s The Rise and Fall of Civilization references the near extinction of the American bison in the 1800s when unsustainable hunting practices, used primarily by white settlers, reduced the number of bison from over 30 million to just a few hundred by the 1880s. During this time, bison or buffalo were hunted for their durable hides and their bones were used for fertilizer and in the manufacture of bone china. The buffalo meat was left to rot, decimating a food source that had sustained Indigenous peoples for generations.

(source) 

Read more at the Glenbow Site: https://www.glenbow.org/exhibitions/kent-monkman-the-rise-and-fall-of-civilization/

The exhibit is long-term at the Glenbow, so be sure to check it out once the pandemic is over.


For a video about one of Monkman's other works, The Deluge, visit:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OqbhG4BX6oU

All photos by rob goetze. (c) 2019.

gendered events and two spirit people

In the spring of 2019, I attended a Two Spirit Ceremony and Workshop. Now, those of you who have attended Indigenous events like pipe ceremonies will know that it is not uncommon for the women to be asked to wear long skirts or dresses at such events, while there is usually no particular requirement for the men. And non-binary people and Two Spirit people are not often mentioned.

In this particular case, Warren Winnipeg was the cultural lead. In advance of the event, he sent out this note:

All ceremony participants are to wear a wrap‐around, blanket or full length skirt to the
ankles. This can be a throw‐blanket that one can tie around their waist.

Pretty simple, huh? The men mostly had a blanket tied around their waist, which went down to their feet. Most women had skirts but those who don't like skirts used blankets or wraps. Non-binary and Two Spirit people could also pick whatever they prefer. Including everyone doesn't always have to take a lot of work...

---

Jennifer Brockman, a Woodland Cree Metis with Scottish, British, and Italian ancestry, has written about their experience as a Two-Spirit participating in ceremonies. The article concludes with some tips on how to create ceremonial space for Two-Spirit people.
          Coming into the Circle – Welcoming Two-Spirit People in Ceremony

[Honor Song - Jeremy Dutcher]

I've been listening to the music of Jeremy Dutcher lately -- and have heard from several friends who have seen Jeremy in concert in the past few months...


           direct link if video does not appear above

About Jeremy Dutcher

Performer, composer, activist, musicologist — these roles are all infused into his art and way of life. His music, too, transcends boundaries: unapologetically playful in its incorporation of classical influences, full of reverence for the traditional songs of his home,and teeming with the urgency of modern-day struggles of resistance.

A member of Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick, Jeremy first did music studies in Halifax before taking a chance to work in the archives at the Canadian Museum of History, painstakingly transcribing Wolastoq songs from 1907 wax cylinders. “Many of the songs I’d never heard before, because our musical tradition on the East Coast was suppressed by the Canadian Government’s Indian Act.” Jeremy heard ancestral voices singing forgotten songs and stories that had been taken from the Wolastoqiyik generations ago.

As he listened to each recording, he felt his own musical impulses stirring from deep within. Long days at the archives turned into long nights at the piano, feeling out melodies and phrases, deep in dialogue with the voices of his ancestors. These “collaborative”compositions, collected together on his debut LP Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa, are like nothing you’ve ever heard. Delicate, sublime vocal melodies ring out atop piano lines that cascade through a vibrant range of emotions. The anguish and joy of the past erupt fervently into the present through Jeremy’s bold approach to composition and raw, affective performances enhanced by his outstanding tenor techniques.

“I’m doing this work because there’s only about a hundred Wolastoqey speakers left,” he says. “It’s crucial for us to make sure that we’re using our language and passing it on to the next generation. If you lose the language, you’re not just losing words; you’re losing an entire way of seeing and experiencing the world from a distinctly indigenous perspective.”
       (from https://jeremydutcher.com/biography/)

Further reading:
http://muskratmagazine.com/jeremy-dutcher-on-climate-change-two-spirits-and-the-ethos-behind-wolastoq-music-and-the-indigenous-cultural-renaissance/

https://www.cbc.ca/arts/the-extraordinary-rise-of-jeremy-dutcher-2018-gave-canada-the-two-spirit-polaris-prince-we-need-1.4931935

https://calgaryphil.com/interview-with-jeremy-dutcher/

[all people and all genders...]

This is at the top of our church bulletin. I like that it says "all peoples and genders"... nicely includes non-binary people as well as Two Spirit people, which is very appropriate in a Treaty statement. Also a small but fitting indicator of being an affirming parish.

[gender in the City of Edmonton census]

The City of Edmonton recently sent out their census, and this is what the gender page looks like:

Nice to see that it more inclusive than it used to be, including not only transgender people but also two spirit!

apology to two-spirit peoples

I saw these on a poster board on Jasper Avenue in downtown Edmonton the other day. Don't know who in particular put them up but they have an important message.

As a Christian I would like to apologize to two-spirit women and men, and to the broader Indigenous communities, for the pervasive and long-term oppression and attempted destruction of who you are, particularly by Christians. This is not the way of Jesus and I am deeply sorry and grieved.

I cannot undo the past but I commit to listening to your stories, acknowledging wrongdoing, increasing awareness in the circles I move in, opening spaces for you to speak and teach us, and working together for a better today and tomorrow.

If you are two-spirit or transgender, you are a gift from the Creator. You are beautiful and the world is incomplete without you.




Want to learn more about two-spirit and what that means?
This video is a great introduction.