NEW YORK ART MISSES THE MARK

At a time when the words “cultural appropriation” are resounding from coast to coast to coast in Canada, it’s incredible that the City of Calgary hired New Yorkbased artists to create a sculpture intended to draw on Alberta’s Indigenous culture.

The Bowfort Towers — four rusty-looking beams (skinny totem poles?) cradling Rundle rock slabs on the south side of the Trans-Canada Highway at WinSport — align with Blackfoot symbolism, according to the city’s manager of arts and culture. Sarah Iley says the sentinels represent the four seasons, four directions, four elements and stages of life.

Tell that to the Blackfoot.

“Maybe if (they) consulted a tribe before (they) did it, because, really, I bet if you got a bunch of Blackfoot elders to look at it, they’re not going to understand it,” Blackfoot artist Kalum Teke Dan told a Postmedia reporter on Thursday about the work by Del Geist and Patricia Leighton.

This piece was funded through the city’s public art program, which dictates that one per cent of the first $50 million of capital projects and half a per cent of the portion over $50 million be allocated to a corresponding artwork.

The construction of Paskapoo Slopes as a mixed use site means $500,000 was made available for artwork.

The city says it is bound by international trade agreements to “make calls for artists that are over $75,000 available internationally.”

Fine, open the competition. But if the point is to incorporate Indigenous culture as the local structure plan indicates, then doesn’t it behoove the city to hire an Indigenous artist?

Canada has notable First Nations artists such as Brian Jungen, who has had an exhibit at Tate Modern in London or Edward Poitras, who once represented Canada at the Venice Biennale. But there are hundreds of Canadian Indigenous artists who would have likely welcomed the commission, both for the money and the exposure.

A cursory search finds Leo Arcand, from Alberta’s Alexander First Nation, whose work was purchased by the Prime Minister’s Office and presented to U.S. President Barack Obama by Justin Trudeau. Or how about Amy Malbeuf, a Metis artist from Rich Lake, Alta., who has exhibited internationally.

Marianne Nicolson of Scottish and Dzawada’enuxw First Nations descent has art in the new Canadian Embassy in Amman, Jordan, and the Vancouver International Airport.

Another fine choice would be Robert Davidson, of Tlingit and Haida descent, one of Canada’s most recognized artists who creates masks, sculptures, paintings and — get this — real totem poles.

Whatever one thinks of the Bowfort Towers — and, really, art is in the eye of the beholder — you have to question the appropriateness of hiring artists who now hail from Manhattan to create a piece, in Iley’s words, reflecting an “important Indigenous site” and “gateway to the mountains.”

The cultural appropriation debate raging in Canada is so heated that it has caused people to resign or be reassigned.

Now, more than ever, we need to be respectful of all cultures and make decisions that reflect that.

There is no place for artistic licence in the city’s public art program.

Maybe if (they) consulted a tribe before (they) did it, because, really, I bet if you got a bunch of Blackfoot elders to look at it, they’re not going to understand it.