The catch-up in terms of visibility of indigenous cultures and knowledge continues with good reason. The scale that the Biennial of Contemporary Indigenous Art (BACA) took on this spring is undoubtedly one of the best examples. But these efforts are now also taking place in the open air.
The seventh and final BACA exhibition to be inaugurated gives pride of place to the “supernatural”, a parallel phenomenon to explain the world, but depreciated by so-called serious science. It takes place at the Expression center, in Saint-Hyacinthe, one of the destinations that are making the biennial grow in its 7th year.e editing.
The novelty is taking place outside BACA, in a project in downtown Montreal which combines public art, street furniture and archeology. Inspired by the First Nations way of understanding and leading life, twenty-one bronze works deal with themes as varied as marine life, trade and justice.
Eleven stations
2.4 km long, Peel Street connects, in a straight line, the basins of the same name to Mount Royal. Water and the forest, or more particularly the mouth of the Lachine Canal and access to Mount Royal Park, are two strong symbols of Montreal, already highlighted since 2017 by the Fleuve-Montagne promenade.
Now, with the “Peel route”, inaugurated at the beginning of June, this street becomes a little more emblematic, because it unearths a path taken by the populations present before the arrival of Jacques Cartier. The story is no longer just the one on the surface. Eleven stations were scattered between rue Smith and avenue des Pins. Signs identify the works (permanent) and a podcast from the Sound Portrait application provides explanations.
The idea for the trail arose in 2016, when work under Sherbrooke Street revealed a longhouse, burials and thousands of pieces of pottery. “These were the remains of an Iroquoian village dating from 1350. We are well beyond Cartier,” says Aurélie Arnaud, project manager at the City of Montreal, with astonishment. At the time of the discovery, the administration was seeking to take the path of reconciliation with the First Nations. Hence the desire “to make the street renovation project a commemoration project”, according to Aurélie Arnaud. “We wanted something that was not a non-native vision,” she explains. There, we are talking about an indigenous narrative, which speaks to the people of Kahnawake. »
The Peel route was born from discussions with the Mohawks of Kahnawake. They proposed, as a thematic source, the thank you ritual “Words before all others”, practiced in the Haudenosaunee territory, which extends from Montreal to beyond Toronto and Buffalo. At each station there are spherical benches for sitting, which, in reality, are works either by MC Snow, or Kyra Revenko, or by both artists.
“‘Words above all’ is said as a thanksgiving before any large gathering, to put us all on the same page, to bring our minds together,” explains MC Snow, of Kahnawake, who benefits here from a rare presence on the island.
The journey is based on a dialogue, a discussion on several levels, including one that brings together artists from two cultures — Kyra Revenko is from Montreal. In this exchange between indigenous and non-indigenous worlds and traditions, there is no cacophony. Harmonious, the whole speaks of cohabitation and complementarity.
On a monochrome background, the iconography is sculpted in relief or hollow. The compositions which often combine the spherical form offer a spiral narrative, like the non-native interpretation of the theme “The Exchange”, where bottles (of alcohol?) and a pot which pours out its lead bullets follow one another. .
“I bore a responsibility,” concedes Kyra Revenko, aware of the historical weight that fell on her. Eventually, [c’est] a great honor. My iconography, subtle, informs about the flaws of the system. I find myself in an interstice between the colonial reality and the postcolonial reality which, I hope, is among us. »
If, from one station to another, the thematic program is sometimes similar (“Aquatic life” and “Water” follow each other closely), an element of mystery tinges the entire route. Even when the patterns or figures are not surprising, they are not discovered at first sight. The bestiary of the constellations of the “Celestial World” boldly adorns its sphere. You sometimes have to be careful, however, when the sculptures brush against the cycle path. How is it that there are still urban developments that make art and sport incompatible?
Supernatural side
At Expression, nine artists explore the supernatural stories from which Indigenous people draw their strength and identity. Three proposals stand out.
In Casey Koyczan’s videos, the accumulation of favorite materials (caribou antler, beads, porcupine spines) forms gigantic characters that are more protective than destructive. Spreading all the way to the ground, the apparent abstraction that Joseph Tisiga paints on a tent canvas represents a fascinating dream catcher from which our gaze extricates itself with difficulty. More political, Michelle Sound’s three works on paper describe the wounds and care provided in the context of acculturation experienced by the Crees.