THE TRY GUYS TRY A LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Breaking the Glass Case | Alexandra Forand 

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If you are anything like me, you consume the art that is short-form video content, AKA YouTube videos. On November 2, 2019 the Try Guys released the video “The Try Guys Become Zookeepers for a Day,” which was the first video of their 4 part mini-series Try Australia. This video is unique because it opens with a land acknowledgement. The Try Guys are an American online comedy company that produces YouTube videos among other things. The YouTube Channel that promotes these videos has 6.5 million subscribers (at the time this article is being written).

(Source)

The land acknowledgement in the video reads:

“We acknowledge that this series was filmed on Wurundjerland, and we pay our respects to the elders past, present, and emerging.”

It was brief. It was simple. But it was there.

As Canadians, this may not be a new experience, since we read (or are read) a version of a land acknowledgment from an approved template at meetings, the first day of school, or various celebrations. This practise of reading a land acknowledgment gained momentum after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada released its final report. Although, it is important to understand that land acknowledgments were being done before the TRC released their report and the practise of acknowledgment started spreading on its own accord with little to no government intervention. It should be noted that there is no one single acknowledgment, but many depending on where you are in the country.

In Australia, another country with a similar dark colonial history like Canada, it isn’t called a land acknowledgment. Instead the statement that the Try Guys featured in their video is a Welcome to Country statement, which has been practised since the early 00s and incorporated into parliament opening ceremonies since 2008. The Welcome to Country statement is often performed by an elder and accompanied with traditional smoking ceremonies, dance and/or music. In the event that an elder isn’t present a simpler welcome is offered.

Another example of Welcome to Country Australia employs (Source).

The practise of a land acknowledgment and Welcome to Country, both in Canada and in Australia, has attracted criticism from politicians, journalist, and historians as being a form of tokenism (Tokenism: the practice of making only a perfunctory or symbolic effort to be inclusive to members of minority groups).

Other critics, such as Stephen Marche points out that practising a land acknowledgment is the equivalent of saying sorry and not meaning it, because speech is easy and speech is free. Unless there is a true movement towards reconciliation these words are empty. This would include paying for the education of First Nation Schoolchildren, who still receive 30% less funding than their white counterparts or ending long term drinking water advisories which disproportionately affects Indigenous communities.

At the University of Toronto, the acknowledgment reads: 

“I (we) wish to acknowledge this land on which the University of Toronto operates. For thousands of years it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.

While there is no wrong way to do a land acknowledgment, when writing, giving, or hearing one, it is important that they are approached with humility and treated as a learning opportunity. The example above is a template, and only a template  and the larger purpose of a land acknowledgment is to transmit knowledge to people who may not know the history of where they are standing. The example above is prescriptive, but there is plenty of room to bring your own voice and meaning to a land acknowledgment.

No matter what your feelings are towards land acknowledgments, the video that inspired this article has 2 million views (again, at the time this article is being written). If we turn to the comments section (a notoriously inhospitable place in the online community) we see that the comments that mention the Welcome to Country are positive and thankful it is present.

Comments reacting to the Try Guy's Land Acknowledgment on a recent video. Photo courtesy of Alexandra Forand. 

 This is not to say that the Try Guys solved colonialism, but it is heartening to see them using their immense platform to set a precedence for other Youtube channels, artists, and dare I say… Museums?

As always, I encourage you to leave a comment, send me an email (allyforand@gmail.com), or if Twitter and Instagram are more your speed my handle on both is @Ally_but_online.

GOING BEYOND THE GLASS CASE

Breaking the Glass Case | Alexandra Forand 

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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about museums. That might not come as a surprise since I am a second year Museum Studies Student, but I’ve been thinking about themes and events that aren’t often discussed in a museum context. Now don’t get me wrong, these themes and events are being discussed, but they are bypassing the museum sphere altogether.

For instance, In the winter of 2019 I was lucky enough to partake in the KAIROS Blanket Exercise through an iSkills workshop at the University of Toronto. The KAIROS Blanket Exercise is a participatory retelling of what we are taught to be “Canadian History.” The workshop starts by everyone standing on their own small blankets, which represent Turtle Island. These blankets are plentiful, and they overlap each other, but nobody seems to mind. These blankets are also colorful and seem to encourages the excited and palpable energy which dances in the air. The two facilitators of the workshop start telling the story of Indigenous people through time and as they do the blankets (and the people on them) become separated, isolated and in some cases, they are removed from the learning area (symbolizing the shrinking numbers of Indigenous peoples through disease, assimilation, and extermination). 

Blankets starting to shrink back symbolizing the loss of Indigenous land. Photograph Courtesy of Alexandra Forand.

Soon, the blankets are no longer plentiful and anyone who is still standing (there aren’t many) are tired. The jubilant energy which filled the space is no longer present. After the retelling of events, there is a sharing circle where people are asked to reflect on what they have heard. The KAIROS Blanket Exercise challenges participants to look at history in a different way. 

Another learning experience I had was viewing the commemorative art installation Walking With Our Sisters (WWOS) which honored missing and murdered Indigenous women. This idea sprung forth from Christi Belcourt, a Michif (Métis) visual artist, who put a call out for moccasin vamps. People from all over the world answered this call and over 2,000 vamps were submitted. 

I was part of the WWOS organizing committee in Regina. Would be nice to see this in person one last time. Love the connection to the land ❤️ https://t.co/l0vphmPse6

— CLB (@saskgirl101) August 14, 2019

 A moccasin vamp is the top part of the moccasin, but these vamps will never be sewn into footwear, but instead represent the unfinished lives of the women and girls. I was a witness for the final installation and the closing ceremonies of WWOS at Batoche National Historical Site, SK. The sage smoke hung heavy in the dry, hot air and a river could be heard, but not seen because of the thick brambles. The installation cut through the low trees and carried on all the way to the river, where we, the viewers, could sit for a minute, before heading back to the gathering ground where elders were available to chat.

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Chi Miigwech to the entire Tkarato community for all the love and support in making this ceremony possible #WWOS #wwosto #mmiwg2s #2spirit #trans #nonbinary #ceremony

A post shared by Walking With Our Sisters TO (@wwos_to) on Oct 23, 2017 at 4:51am PDT

You see, these experiences could have easily been in a museum, but it would have decontextualized the activity. We discuss the danger of decontextualizing artifacts in collections, but why are we so ready to decontextualize the story that created these objects, which contributes to the narrative told in museums. For the KAIROS blanket exercise, standing in a classroom only heightened the fact that this history isn’t being taught in schools across the country. On the other hand, taking in the WWOS exhibit, being surrounded by the land that I love, comforted me as I walked with the women and girls whose lives were stolen from them. These feelings of anger, bitter loss, and, dare I say solace, could never be experienced fully in a museum setting where the objects, stories, and audiences are supposed to be “neutral.”

Some events, such as colonialism, cannot be contained in a glass case, there are no collections that illustrates the broken promises made between nations, and no one--no matter how talented--can write a didactic panel with the story of the land they refuse to acknowledge. The place in which you experience something is just as important as what you are experiencing and sometimes we are left with no choice but to look beyond the museum to see this.

As always, you can leave a comment, send me an email (allyforand@gmail.com), or if Twitter and Instagram are more your speed my handle on both is @Ally_but_online. Also, if you aren't following Christi Belcourt, you're missing out. She is an incredible artist, activists, and inspiration. 

TREATIES, TERRITORY, AND THE TORONTO BIENNIAL

Breaking the Glass Case | Alexandra Forand

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Have you seen advertisements for the Toronto Biennial of Art ? Have you been to a talk, exhibition, or performance that is connected with the Toronto Biennial of Art? Or are you asking, like I was, “What is the Toronto Biennial?!” According to their website, the Toronto Biennial of Art is an international contemporary visual art event which runs from September 21- December 1, 2019. During this time, there are exhibition, talks, and performances that reflect the local context and engage the most pressing issues of the time.

Toronto, where water, land, and city meet  (source.)

This event includes more than 90+ artists and covers most of the city of Toronto, as expressed in the official Land Acknowledgment:

The Toronto Biennial of Art acknowledges the land upon which our event takes place, in multiple venues across the city, stretching from the Small Arms Inspection Building in Mississauga in the West, to the Port Lands in the East; and from Harbourfront Centre in the South, to the Art Gallery of York University in the North.

It is evident through the Land Acknowledgement and the events that at the heart of the Toronto Biennial is land, namely who belongs on the land. The exhibitions, talks, and installations illustrate and annunciate the significance of the waterfront region and the multifaceted history of Toronto. The Toronto Biennial tries to answer the question: “What does it mean to be in relation?” A question we’ve been trying to answer since time immemorial. 

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Re-gram via @nowtoronto #TObiennial19 • Artist AA Bronson’s great-grandfather was an Anglican missionary from England who worked to colonize Siksika Nation, the territorial home where fellow artist Adrian Stimson lives in Alberta. The two have since made dual works that are debuting at the @torontobiennial, bringing a personal dimensions to the concept of reconciliation. Read our full cover story via the link in the bio. 📸 @samuelengelking #canadianart #indigenousart #contemporaryart

A post shared by Toronto Biennial of Art (@torontobiennial) on Oct 1, 2019 at 10:25am PDT

I have mentioned before that I am not a true Torontonian. In fact, I was born, grew up and left Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to come to Toronto. Unsurprisingly, Saskatoon is extremely different than Toronto. Saskatoon is much colder in the winter, we have a significantly smaller population, and the land is flat. Really flat. Speaking of land, another big difference is that Saskatoon falls into treaty 6 territory. The province of Saskatchewan is actually covered by treaty 4 and treaty 6 in the South and treaty 5 and treaty 8 in the North. While four treaties might seem like a lot, Ontario is covered in more than 40 treaties.

Saskatoon, where water, land, and city meet (source.)

Let me take a moment a explain what is a treaty. A Treaty is legal agreement that set out the rights and responsibilities. In Canadian history, we are usually taught treaties are made between Indigenous nations and the provincial and federal government, but this isn’t altogether true. There is a long history of treaties being made between Indigenous groups. For instance,Have you ever heard Southern Ontario be referred to as “Dish (or bowl) with one spoon territory”? This concept of “Dish With One Spoon territory,” is a treaty between the Anishinaabe, Mississaugas and Haudenosaunee that bounds groups and individuals alike to share and protect the land. The big idea is that we all eat out of the same dish, we need to ensure it is never empty and there is enough for future generations, which includes all creatures. Each wave of newcomers have been invited and tasked with upholding the values of this treaty. The Dish with one Spoon Treaty, wasn’t created in one go, instead it was seen as an agreement that was tested, relearned, and evolved over time.

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Tonight we delved into the history and meaning of wampum traditions here on turtle island with Brian Charles of Georgina Island! We are armed with so much important knowledge about treaties and the stories behind them. So much of these original agreements get obscured and what should be common knowledge often isn’t. So we thank Brian for doing the leg work and being willing to share his life’s work with us ❤️ #osot #ourstoriesourtruths #briancharles #wampum #wampumbelt #quahog #treaty #blackashbaskets #settlercolonialism #treaties #agreements #peace #anishinaabe #haudenosaunee #mikmaq

A post shared by Our Stories Our Truths (@ourstoriesourtruths) on Dec 3, 2018 at 8:17pm PST

The Toronto Biennial is a collaborative effort to try and better understand the indigenous context, including the deeper narrative and underrepresented histories of the land of Toronto. So, do you plan or have been to an event connected to the Toronto Biennial of Art? Let me know! As always, you can leave a comment, send me an email (allyforand@gmail.com), or if Twitter and Instagram are more your speed my handle on both is @Ally_but_online.