Jan 15: Context
Hello! This is my first blog posting for the 2024 Gallery Blog of Words and Art. I am happy that you are here and are ready to explore words + ideas through creativity.
Here are some guidelines for reading this blog:
1. The opinions, experiences, perspectives, and interpretations are my own and they can and will change.
2. My hope is that my thoughts and questions might spark a new connection for both of us.
I believe that to begin this Gallery Blog of Words and Art, I should offer context about my self-location and my story/experience/perspective of arts and culture, specifically:
1. From the land that my family comes from which is the Netherlands.
2. From the land that we arrived on which is called Canada.
3. From the land that was, is, and will always be which is Turtle Island.
I will be weaving and stitching these threads throughout my blog postings as I am aware, able, and have the capacity to do so.
“Context” by Geraldine M Ysselstein. January 2023. Collage of printed photos with glue on paper and cotton embroidery.
Introduction
The collage “Context” includes printed maps of the Netherlands, Canada, and Turtle Island; artwork from my maternal side; and photos of me creating over the years with different mediums. I chose these images because they help me make sense of the context of arts, culture, and creativity that I come from (Netherlands) and where I live (Canada/Turtle Island). The process of cutting out of images helps me bring attention to the images and the gluing and stitching acknowledges their connection.
Family Experience
I come from families who are artists, craftspeople, and creatives.
Some were taught by family/community and others were taught by institutions in the Netherlands, Canada, and the United States; but I believe every artist, craftsperson, and creative is also self-taught through experience.
Many of my family members were/are painters inspired by Dutch artists like Rembrandt and Vincent van Gogh and the way these artists captured colour, light, and texture of landscape, self-portraits, and daily life. Some family members copied the work of these artists, while others would study the work of Rembrandt and van Gogh to inform their own paintings.
In addition to painting, both my maternal and paternal family members create(d) through sculpting, quilting, pottery making, knitting, sewing, crocheting, cross-stitching, writing, cooking, photographing, decorating, and weaving.
Arts, crafts, and creativity were and continue to be valued in my family as a skill to learn, as self-expression, as curious exploration, as daily resilience, as aesthetic enrichment, and as functional integration into our lives.
Canadian Experience
My maternal and paternal grandparents arrived from the Netherlands at the same time that there was some “formalizing” of arts and culture in “Canada”.
Just prior to my grandparent’s arrival, the Massey Commission had been put together in 1949 to investigate the “state” of arts and culture in Canada. Vincent Massey (the 18th Governor General and the first to be born in Canada) chaired the commission with four other commissioners from across the country. After various meetings, briefs, and studies were heard; they issued the Massey Report on June 1st, 1951.
The report advocated for the federal funding of a wide range of cultural activities including the creation of the Canada Council of Arts (which funds artists and arts organizations). The purpose of this federal funding was said to protect democracy and to protect from the influence of American culture. This is considered the beginning of defining a Canadian culture.
But, what is “Canadian culture”? And how do we understand “Canadian culture” within the context of the cultural genocide that Justice Murray Sinclair references in the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation report about residential schools (which operated between 1830-1996). The TRC concludes in its report that residential schools were “a systematic, government- sponsored attempt to destroy Aboriginal cultures and languages and to assimilate Aboriginal peoples so that they no longer existed as distinct peoples.”
When asked about cultural genocide in an interview with CBC in 2015, Ian Campbell, Hereditary Chief of the Squamish Nation, said the residential schools were an “attempted annihilation of our culture to access resources and wealth by displacing and marginalizing Indigenous peoples of this land.” (CBC Interview, “Residential School policy called “cultural genocide”, June 2nd, 2015. Accessed on January 15, 2023.). This is heavy and we have not truly found a way to grieve, heal, and repair from this experience.
The Massey Report has been criticized for not including Indigenous arts and culture, but inclusion also needs to include these difficult and uncomfortable truths.
Treaty 7 Experience
Within the first two months (in 2013) of arriving in Moh'kins'tsis, which is the Niitsitapi - Blackfoot name for Calgary, Alberta; I went to a workshop and symposium exploring the making and signing of Treaty 7. At the symposium, the late Narcisse Blood and Michael Green led us through the question“What does it mean to be Treaty people?”. They did this using arts, culture, and storytelling by Indigenous and non-Indigenous actors.
I had never paid attention to the treaties or what it meant to be a Treaty 7 person and I was curious, “Can I be a treaty person? What are my responsibilities as a treaty person? What was the intention of the treaty?”
Later I would go and visit Blackfoot Crossing which is where representatives of the Canadian Government and the British Crown signed Treaty 7 on September 22nd, in 1877 with the Siksika (Blackfoot), Kainai (Blood), Piikani (Peigan), Tsuut’ina (Sarcee), and Stoney-Nakoda including the Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Wesley First Nations. The signing was under duress for the Blackfoot, Tussut’ina, and Stoney-Nakoda Nations due to the loss of the buffalo and misunderstandings of language and intention of the treaty.
These are just two examples of where I have learned about life before colonial contact, the struggle and impact of colonial contact, and the resilience towards colonial contact. In that resilience, I continue to witness the reclaiming of identity, story, culture, art, language, land, spirituality, and governance by Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island. I want to acknowledge all of this.
I also want to acknowledge that western society often defines arts and culture as being an object separate from life and held on a pedestal which has also impacted Indigenous arts and culture which was/is connected to life and living. Finally, I also want to acknowledge that Indigenous worldviews have impacted me in the creation of my art, specifically in the idea of having a reciprocal relationship with the land and that everything is connected (like in the collage).
Conclusion
By listening, supporting, and celebrating Indigenous artists, creatives, and storytellers - I believe that change can happen in a country that calls itself Canada. I believe in the power of creativity to shift the imagination of a country that sits at the intersection of a Eurocentric perspective of arts and culture; the cultural genocide and resilience of Indigenous peoples; and the possibilities of a retelling and reclaiming stories through arts and culture where two different worldviews meet.
Questions
What or who introduced you to arts, culture, and creativity and how?
How do you experience arts, culture, and creativity in Canada?
What does Canadian culture and identity mean to you?
