To Talk With Others

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Alistair Maitland

Ken Anderson, "the mosquito becomes me," 2018

wood (birch) and steel. Photo by Alistair Maitland Photography

Project Coordinated by Mary Bradshaw and Valerie Salez | Ker and Centennial Galleries

Family Sunday of 2020 will take place on Jan. 19 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and examine the current exhibition To Talk With Others.  The afternoon will feature activities led by local, emerging visual artist Jesse Campbell.

Jesse will share a bracelet making activity and stories connected to his Metis and Cree roots. This Family Sunday will truly be about talking and listening to others - and creating art as a way to remember our shared stories. As usual, visitors can expect a wide variety of hands-on making and artistic experimenting.

“The activity I have planned involves making a bracelet using five colours; the colours and the meaning behind them are inspired by the colours and teachings of the Metis sash.   Participants will then write or draw on the bracelet what those colours mean to them”, explained Campbell. “This way we can understand the significance of these symbols in how we represent ourselves. During the sharing activity the particapants trade bracelets with each other and share how the meaning behind each bracelet relates to them.”

Jesse Campbell is of Métis, Cree, Scottish, and English ancestry currently living in traditional Lekwungen territories. He has been a practicing mural painter since 2010 and has helped produce many public art pieces throughout Greater Victoria and is now leading his own projects throughout the city. In addition to his mural practice, Jesse spends time mentoring youth on the craft of mural painting and understanding the diverse forms of Indigenous art across North America. Jesse’s year-long exhibition Blanketing ran at Victoria’s Open Space Artist Run Centre throughout 2019. 

Family Sunday at the AGGV is included with admission *OR* purchase of a family membership for $75 and which provides unlimited Gallery admission and discounts. Alternatively, visitors can enjoy this event at the AGGV with their: Library Family Access Pass, Warm Welcome Pass for Newcomers and/or discounted admission with your membership to one of many partner organizations.

To Talk With Others responds to the minutes of a meeting in August of 1977 between Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau and five Yukon First Nations leaders regarding the then-approved Mackenzie Pipeline. Held in the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in archives, this document illustrates the ongoing dichotomy of two opposing cultures and ways of understanding economic, social and cultural development with the land and its inhabitants. Through a diverse range of media Yukon artists Ken Anderson (Tlingit/Scandinavian), Lianne Marie Leda Char-lie (Tagé Cho Hudän | Big River People), Valerie Salez (1st Generation Canadian), Doug Smarch Jr. (Tlingit), and Joseph Tisiga (Kaska Dene) activate this archival document and ultimately continue the conversation surrounding self-determination in the face of federal and corporate agendas.

Organized by the Yukon Arts Centre.

To Talk With Others is one of the 200 exceptional projects funded through the Canada Council for the Arts’ New Chapter program. With this $35M investment, the Council supports the creation and sharing of the arts in communities across Canada.