2019 Chu Niikwän Residency
The Chu Niikwän Artist Residency is a unique partnership between three visual arts presenters: Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre, the Yukon Arts Centre and the Yukon Art Society with the support of Yukon Government. Centred around the shared goal of artistic innovation, collaboration and professional development, this 3-week paid residency invites three visual artists as well as an emerging curator to gather in Whitehorse, Yukon to develop an exhibition of new work.
Karly Leonard
Curator in Residence
BIOGRAPHY
Karly Leonard is an archivist and emerging curator. She was born and raised in Quebec, has lived in Montreal, Paris, New York and currently lives and works out of Whitehorse, Yukon. She completed a B.A. in Urban Studies at Concordia University, attended a year abroad at Sciences Po Paris where she studied Art History and completed an M.A. in Information Studies at McGill University. She interned at MURAL Festival, LNDMRK, The National Film Board of Canada and the Museum of Modern Art and has worked in the photography department at the Canadian Center for Architecture. She currently works as Project Archivist for the Audio Recording Inventory Project at Northern Native Broadcasting. With a background in Urban Studies, Art History and Information Studies, she is particularly interested in the relationship between the past, the present and the future, is fond of unearthing perspectives and has a penchant for activism.
CURATOR STATEMENT
Chū Nįį Kwän is the Soutern Tutchone speaking peoples word for the Yukon River from long before newcomers renamed it . Chu Niikwän was chosen by the Elders’ Council at Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre as the name of the Artist Residency and the focus of this exhibit is to reflect how this natural landmark impacts our community and the Yukon way of life. Ripple Effect explores the impact of human behaviour, how climate change is affecting the Yukon River, First Nations’ traditional ways of living, our environment and our mental health.
The exhibit features the combined works of advanced Indigenous artist, Shirley Adamson, advanced artist, Meshell Melvin and emerging artist, Talia Woodland.
Using acrylic paint and reflecting upon her childhood memories, her family history and that of her ancestors, as conveyed to her by her grandmother and elders, Shirley Adamson paints magical, vibrant imagery. We are offered a glimpse of the lifestyle many once lived; the set-up of fishing camps along the river, the process of smoking salmon and the people waving at passers-by in paddle boats. Although the imagery is enchanting and colourful, “Night Camp by the River”, “The Aggie Rose”, “Drying Salmon”, “Gūe Oo Mà”, “Empty Boats, Empty River” and “Shoreline Stories” illustrates the changes of traditional First Nations’ lifestyle due to the passage of time and environmental degradation, worsened by human neglect and disrespect of the river and chinook salmon. Adamson’s work “Gūe Oo Mà” serves as the key statement and illustrates Mother Chinook beckon-ing her children to return as they are being suffocated by debris related to human neglect. I wonder if our children’s reality will differ from the stories we have told them, what their memories will be of the land and how our ways of living will be altered due to the current climate change crisis.
Meshell Melvin’s large textile installation, “Invocation to the Chinook of Chu Niikwän” is an urgent call for the once plentiful salmon to return to the river. In total, 400 textile fish, a mating pair to represent each spawning area along the length of the watershed, were made through a series of processes including; research, fabric selection and preparation, laser cutting at Yukonstruct, collage and embroidery using a universal movement machine. Upon closer inspection, you will notice that the textures of the fabrics used to represent the incredible Chinook. The colours symbolize the life cycle that salmon experience during their long, arduous journey. While standing in front of this work, I can feel the intense energy and wonderment that one must have felt while experiencing such a miraculous, large migration. We are confronted with the drastic decline of the Chinook salmon and are reminded that unless we make essential changes soon, Chu Niikwän may never experience a similar migration in the future.
“USED” is a video diary of Talia Woodland’s experiences growing up surrounded by nature in the Yukon. It documents her experience of leaving for the city and returning to her roots in the context of climate change. The video showcases some of the Yukon’s most iconic landscapes and features footage from her travels to other Canadian and International locations. It documents the fear, tension and new thought patterns that the reality of climate change has created in today’s youth. “USED” will take you on an incredible journey; you will experience majestic beauty, while simultaneously being confronted with the uncomfortable and sometimes terrifying.“USED” exhibits the true reality of the Yukon faced by its youth today.
As a professional archivist and emerging curator, I originally sought to relate the works to archival holdings of the Yukon. With time and through collaboration with the artists, I have come to understand that humans are living, breathing archives. Our experiences, stories and the actions that we take now will shape our future. We hope that Ripple Effect will “make waves” and inspire viewers to reflect on our current climate situation and encourage them to take action to make positive changes now before it is too late.
Meshell Melvin
Artist in Residence
BIOGRAPHY
From her beginnings in southern Ontario to the Yukon home she chose Meshell Melvin has been making art. In a professional practice that spans 29 years her images have been drawn, printed, painted, animated, collaged and embroidered. Hand in handle with “the Universal Movement Machine” a rare industrial chainstitch embroiderer; Meshell has been embroidering portraits of Yukon citizens. Her images reflect an interest and curiosity in the world around her; the people, the homes they live in, and the surrounding landscape. Her work hangs in Private and Public collections and has been featured in print, radio, television and in two short documentary films. Her passion and commitment to art education in the territory parallels her devotion to her practice and takes her on art-making adventures with students from Watson Lake to Old Crow.
The Old Firehall // Yukon Arts Centre
ARTIST STATEMENT
The ways, in which this river and the watershed impact our community and way of life, are myriad and pro-found. My thoughts came to focus on the home and travel route the river provides to the Salmon and the Salmon that provide for the people, the animals and the forests.
These salmon are exceptional beings, the Chinook in particular. Their migration spans almost the whole length of the watershed, from the Bering Sea to the headwaters of the Nisutlin River (3142km). It is the longest salmon migration on the planet. Their population once so very plentiful has fallen drastically. Despite fishing restrictions, and the efforts and sacrifices of our First Nation peoples, the numbers have failed to recover.
This instillation of miniatures is an invocation to the Chinook of Chu Niikwän; to return to the waters of their birth. There are 183, recorded spawning sites throughout the watershed. Each of these sites is represented here with a mating pair. Dozens more of the bravest, of the strongest swimmers, are sharing in this run. May their journey guide the Chinook home.
Shirley Adamson
Artist in Residence
BIOGRAPHY
Shirley Adamson is an Elder of the Tagish Nation who creates under the name Zhùrä. Emphasizing her unique style she uses paints, canvases, found objects, bones, feathers, glass beads, and hides in her work. By blending indigenous and contemporary mediums and styles her pieces convey a powerful message of cultural change. Her work has shown at the Northern Front Studio Gallery in Whitehorse, at Yukon College, and at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre. She has a piece in the Yukon Permanent Art Collection, has collaborated with other beadwork artists on the installation commemorating missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls which is on permanent display at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre, she also has a painting featured with the Indigenous plants interpretive garden at the Centre. Shirley has many canvases and abstract form pieces in private collections.
The Culture Cabins // Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre
ARTIST STATEMENT
Storytelling is a fundamental underpinning to First Nations culture. During my childhood I learned my personal story and the history of my ancestors through the stories told by my grandmother and other Elders. The stories told of events, significant or otherwise, that shaped us as a people, as a society. Stories told throughout the long evenings of winter were rich with the kind of imagery that is magical. During the telling, in my imagination, the events unfolded in bright vibrant colours as the stories became mine. Using water based acrylics I’ve tried to recreate the colours of my childhood memories in the canvases showing my family’s connection to the rivers of our homelands. Images of a lifestyle and a livelihood intimately connected to the environment cannot ignore the careless impact of humans so three of the pieces address that: one small canvas incorporates bits of glass, metal and ceramic that I found washed from the river to the shore just steps away from my temporary artist’s studio; on another canvas, empty fishing boats float on an empty river above a rusting fish hook lying on the river’s bed acknowledging the dramatic decline of the chinook salmon; and a third canvas shows the mother of the chinook calling her children home as the waters where she sent them become increasingly choked, ironically, with plastic water bottles discarded by humans.
Talia Woodland
Artist in Residence
BIOGRAPHY
A professional dancer and filmmaker, Talia Woodland is a multi-media artist from Whitehorse, Yukon. Being a dancer, choreographer, photographer and filmmaker, she feels adept both in front of and behind the camera. A graduate of Humber College’s renowned Film & Television Production program, her foray into documentary filmmaking began with her as picture editor on the critically acclaimed short, “Stripped” which led to her role as Cinematographer on the short musical drama, “Lola Jones.” Her directorial debut, a hip-hop dance documentary entitled “All It Gives” is currently being released on its festival circuit. Her strong connection to the dance community comes from the work she has done with Borealis Soul, a multimedia dance and theatre company from Whitehorse Yukon. Her hard work at Humber College earned her the 2019 Women in Film Award. Talia is interning with celebrated Canadian filmmaker Liz Marshall and continuing her work with Borealis Soul.
Arts Underground Craft Studio
ARTIST STATEMENT
USED is a crash course assault on your senses, that takes you on the journey of growing up, leaving, and returning to a small, remote town in Northern Canada. It’s a reflection of my life lived outdoors, my obsession for photographing and filming water, and a realization of my ignorance of it’s finite capacity. Using unused footage from years and years of habitually filming my life adventures, I reflect back on my experiences while attempting to peer into the future; all through the recently terrifying lens of our changing climate.
Accompanied by the haunting rhythms of Jeremy Parkin and the genius rhymes of Germain Carter, I morphed what is often seen as pleasant scenery and adventures into a somber look at how we inter-act with and ignore the environment around us. How can we immerse ourselves so lovingly into nature, yet sit idly by while the world literally bursts into flames? What effect does living in a small remote town versus living in a large central city have on us and our relationship to the earth? I invite you to explore these questions and find your own answers as USED takes you in and out of nature, and our hope for saving it.
Be sure to put on the headphones and listen just as intently as you watch. The soundscape reveals more secrets than the visuals alone. Watch from BEGINNING! to END? for the complete story to be revealed.
USED is an experiment using old footage, created by Talia Woodland during the 2019 Chu Niikwän Residency in Whitehorse Yukon.