| Part of tofeelclose.com Curated by David LaRiviere, PAVED Arts nisitohtamowin is an audio piece that thinks through ‘getting to know’ or understanding by listening to the actions we carry out. This piece is a sister project to Allison’s Kiskisohcikew (they make things to make people remember) a performance that looks at the action of beading being used as a mnemonic device for language learning. nisitohtamowin expands on the connections between gesture and sound to create an introspective audio piece. nisitohtamowin amplifies the sounds of beading to create larger gestures to seek understanding. This audio piece combines the sounds that filter through the window of Allison’s studio, amplified beading gestures and spoken thoughts. This piece gestures through thoughts of despair, longing, seeking connection, and missing family, language, and land. nisitohtamowin asks viewers to take time to listen and witness an attempt to understand through gesture. The finished piece is a beaded code that connects to the recording, utilizing capitalist symbols to express something deeply personal, symbolic, and in essence anti-capitalist. How can we create a world that utilizes tools of oppression for our resistance as Indigenous peoples? Carrie Allison is a Nêhiýaw/Cree, Métis, and European descent visual artist based in K’jipuktuk (Halifax, Nova Scotia). She grew up on the ̓ unceded and unsurrendered lands of the Sḵwxw̱ ú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səlílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xwməθkwəyə̓ m (Musqueam) Nations. Allison’s maternal roots are based in maskotewisipiy (High Prairie, Alberta), Treaty 8. She is an active member of the arts community and is currently Co-Chair of the Eyelevel Artist Run Centre Board. Allison’s practice is time intensive, repetitive, durational and thoughtful: she uses beading to connect with histories, narratives, relatives, and ancestors. Her practice responds to her maternal Nêhiýaw/Cree and Métis ancestry, thinking through intergenerational cultural loss and acts of reclaiming, resilience, and resistance. |
| tofeelclose is a space for individual and collective reflection. The project gathers momentum and shape through every voice. Contributors offer unfolding ideas and inquiries, lay bare obsessions, wade through the mundane, stage a place for an encounter. Look for ways to feel close.Artist commissions will be added bi-weekly from July to October 2020, thereafter archived. Artists: Carrie Allison, Eve Tagny and Emii Alrai, Katherine Boyer, Erika DeFreitas, Lindsay Delaronde and Jamie Black, Maggie Groat, Jessica Groome and Tiziana La Melia, Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay, Shellie Zhang, Laura Gildner Curators: Art Gallery of Regina, Franz Kaka, Paved Arts, Jennifer Smith, Kenderdine and College Galleries with BlackFlash Magazine tofeelclose is curated by Tarin Dehod and organized by Tarin Dehod and Derek Sandbeck of AKA, design by Carson Sargent. |
