Art exhibition reflects on what it means to indigenize a place
The sound of a jingle dress worn by a student walking down a hallway was the catalyst for artist Judy Anderson to create an exhibition about what it means to indigenize a place.
The exhibition …Indigenized originated at the Dunlop Art Gallery in Regina and is currently on display at the Art Gallery of Swift Current.
She is Nêhiyaw (Cree) from Gordon First Nation in Treaty 4 territory and an associate professor of Canadian Indigenous studio art in the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Calgary.
Her student created a jingle dress for an art project and put it on for a class presentation. The sound of the jingle cones on the dress caught Anderson's attention as the student rushed back to the class.
“You could hear the jingles and I thought that's indigenization, just that sound being in this hallway, in this place,” she said. “It's not intentional, it's happening and it's there. And so I went, OK, I've got to do this exhibition about indigenization.”
That experience was also the inspiration for one of the art installations in the exhibition, titled As she walked down the hallway, she unintentionally …Indigenized. It is an arrangement of a large number of copper jingles on steel hoops and includes the sound made by jingle cones.
The multimedia installations in the exhibition stimulates different senses as part of exploring the notion of indigenization. There are smells from furs and tanned hides, the experience of reading and thinking about the pronunciation of different Nêhiyaw words inscribed on 2x2 lumber pieces used for a teepee installation, and the imagined textures of different materials in the exhibition, because the art pieces cannot be touched.
The process of creating this exhibition made Anderson to think about how indigenization has been a part of her life ever since her undergraduate years.
“When I started thinking about it, I was kind of thinking about it institutionally,” she said. “So how do we indigenize an institution? And then as I was working on this, I realized that it's this idea of what are institutions willing to allow.”
Indigenization would mean that individuals can just be themselves without being affected by racism and colonization.
“If we didn't have to worry about process and policy and upsetting people, we would just indigenize and it'd be easy,” she said. “But because we have all of this process and policy there, then we can't indigenize as easily as we would like.”
Indigenous world views are part of everything she creates and she also uses her work to honour family and friends. The installation with several animal furs in the exhibition is part of a whole body of work to honour people in her life.
“Each one of them embodies somebody in my life that is important to me,” she said. “The otter is my sister. … And then the fox is my mom. So each one is titled who the person is. Then eventually I'm hoping to have the piece finished where it actually honours them, but in the meantime, it's that work in progress. I can still look at it and think of them in that kind way.”
Her art practice includes beadwork, installation, painting, three-dimensional pieces, and collaborative projects. Her skilled beadwork is displayed in the exhibition piece titled Exploit Robe (Going Pro), which is part of a series of four works that she created to honour her oldest son, Cruz.
Another art installation in the exhibition, titled When I close my eyes, deep down, I know this is the answer …, is a reflection on her experience of homesickness when she is not in Saskatchewan. It is a teepee skirt made from broadcloth. It represents a skirt sewed on the pattern of a teepee and held in place by several rocks. Part of the inspiration for this work was a teaching from an elder.
“He said that if you are comfortable in yourself and in your body and with who you are, then you're home,” she recalled. “So when we think about a teepee, that's our home and the rocks ground you and they hold everything there. … So as soon as he started that teaching, I started to see this skirt that I wanted to make that was big and that could be my home, so I could then get grounded.”
The art installation titled It really is a circle … combines a display of t-shirts with beaded animal furs. It was inspired by her long-time habit, which began during her undergraduate years, to wear bought t-shirts and to eventually make her own t-shirts with images or messages reflecting her thoughts about indigenization.
She made the frame and hangers for the t-shirts from copper, because it is an important metal to Indigenous people. The furs in this display are part of a collaborative piece that she created with her son Cruz.
Anderson mentioned that all aspects of her art and the work she created for this exhibition are related to the theme of indigenization.
“So if I can get grounded in my home and in myself and feel better about who I am as a human being, that's indigenizing,” she said. “That's allowing me to be me. And if I can honour my son in the way that he's working and how we have to live in this contemporary world, that's indigenizing. All of it is indigenizing.”
She noted that it can be hard for people to see colonial systems and to know what it is, because it is accepted that this is the way things are. The exhibition can therefore provide a gateway for visitors to reflect and to start conversations, but it will require a willingness to develop a greater understanding.
“So people have to do work,” she said. “Somebody might need to then Google the definition for indigenization. I'm still trying to figure out what indigenization means, but I've gotten to this particular place with it. But it doesn't mean I've always known. You come, you learn something, but the viewer has work to do as well. So it's not just the responsibility of the artist.”
The exhibition …Indigenized by Judy Anderson is showing at the Art Gallery of Swift Current until Nov. 8. Admission is free and gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and noon to 7 p.m. on Thursday. The gallery is closed on Sunday, Monday and holidays.