Reflecting history through art
Artists sought for Berger Inquiry exhibition, set to open for Open Sky festival
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Thursday, February 23, 2017
DEH CHO
The voices of elders across the Northwest Territories are being remembered at an upcoming exhibition at the Open Sky gallery.
Nahanni Butte elder Elsie Marcellais, left, views photographs from the Berger Inquiry with her granddaughter and her daughter, Laura. Marcellais has been invited to participate in the new exhibition as an artist. - photo courtesy of Linda MacCannell
|
Thunder In Our Voices is an exhibition that showcases how communities in the Northwest Territories stood up to oppose the proposed Mackenzie Valley Pipeline. The mid-1970s Berger Inquiry, the focal point of the exhibition, received comments from people in indigenous communities throughout the Mackenzie Valley and eventually resulted in a federal suspension of pipeline plans until the region's land claims were settled.
"It was the largest oil companies in the world and 30 small communities. It was a real David and Goliath story," said Drew Anne Wake. Wake covered the Berger Inquiry as a young reporter while freelancing for the CBC and later compiled the exhibition with the help of photographer Linda MacCannell.
After Wake left the Northwest Territories following the inquiry, she became an exhibition designer by profession, a job that took her all over the world. When she returned to Canada, she re-discovered her old audio tapes of speeches elders gave during the inquiry.
"I thought, I would like, as my last project before I retire, to build an exhibition so people could see how astonishing it was that these 30 communities spoke out and asked to have their land claims settled before a pipeline went through - and how they won," Wake said.
She and MacCannell, with the help of small arts grants, came to Fort Simpson in 2010 to seek the collaboration of the Open Sky Creative Society and the Dehcho Divisional Education Council. After that, they started a trip down the Mackenzie Valley, from Fort Liard to Sambaa K'e and all the way up to Paulatuk.
"We've gone all the way along the river and (brought) back voices of the elders, photographs of the elders, and we invited the elders to talk about how they made their voices heard," she said.
The exhibit has now toured 40 locations across North America and is currently in the U.S. but Wake has plans to add yet another component to it.
"Along with Open Sky, we've won a grant to add original works of art by Dene and Inuvialuit artists," she said.
The grant, from the Canada Council for the Arts, allows Wake to find artists representing each community.
On Feb. 18, Wake discussed the project with a crowd of people at the Open Sky gallery, where she took suggestions for artists.
"We're encouraging people to come up with artists whose fathers, grandfathers and grandmothers had spoken to Judge Berger," she said.
Once artists are identified, they will be asked to create a piece of art in honour of or inspired by the statements elders gave.
The exhibition will return to Fort Simpson for the Open Sky Festival on July 1 and 2.
