miss. nesbitt

Recently myself along with another student, Katie Earl were selected for the inaugural Fine Arts Reading Room Residency Project, which is super-duper exciting!

I will be posting regular updates about my research, which at first my be fairly un-cohesive as I begin to sift through things, run up against barriers or find new exciting pathways. You may follow this process if you like by subscribing to my blog.

This is the call out from the Reading Room for the parameters of the residency (my(rough) project info to follow):

 The project will create links between disciplines and approaches to creative and academic production. The inaugural FARR residency project is non-thematic. Applicants are invited to propose projects based upon their current ongoing artistic research or production projects.

Available resources include:
generous funding;
audio/visual resources (cameras, computers, etc.);
library focusing on art history and theory;
full-time access to the FARR space;
and dedicated research support from FARR staff who will help you see your project to completion.

I am very excited to be a part of this experience, so first of all a big THANK YOU to the FARR and its members as well as CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY for offering such an opportunity at the undergrad level.

 My intended research for this project stems from personal experiences growing up in the prairies, namely Alberta and Saskatchewan. In particular, in the context of white/ native relations. It is my hope that through positioning my experiences at the centre of my research and stemming outward, something new and valuable on a greater scale can arise.

   I would like to begin this process by mining my memories in a very light-hearted, non critical way. Some of the ways I would like to do this are as follows:

• Digging up old photographs and doing  interviews
• finding out how to construct a teepee (which my uncle has had on his land for many years and I spent many a summer sleeping and partying in).
• Constructing a recipe book of my aunts bear grease hair lather, and (perhaps mythical) ‘bear head soup’  as well as my neighbors raspberry beer recipe.

   A secondary layering to my research is to look at these places in a broader context. Living in the prairies, or anywhere in Canada (and North America) means constantly crossing paths with Native American or First Nations people and  land(at least the lands which have been selected for them), yet my personal ignorance about these people and places is astounding.

In light of this context, I feel it is important to begin embedding – to the best of my ability – a picture of North America that makes visible the First Peoples of this country. In particular the ways this land has been conceived in the past and present. Alongside this investigation is also the wish to include an in depth mapping of First Nations language, surviving and dead.

****(beginning of sidenote) ***also of importance to me is honesty of speach. I am aware already in talking about these things ways that critical theory creeps into my head. I know there are many things to consider when discussing matters which may infer positions of US and THEM etc. It is my wish to try on the one hand acknowledge these power dynamics and ways of relating and on the other be able to share in a way that isn’t overly preoccupied with these details and critical distancing. As I write this, something I recently read in Talking Back, thinking feminist, thinking black by Bell Hooks, seems pertinent to this point:

When I speak about radicalizing consciousness, I think of the word concientization, which implies much more than the mere adoption of politically correct slogans or support for politically correct causes. (pg. 31)

   I know I have much ignorance about my personal privilege and  attitudes of oppression. It is my hopes that through this investigation, I can honestly expose some of these for myself and others, while working towards creating and healing the many gaps which exist between people. ****(ending of side note)******

       Finally, to bring ( a little) more criticality – I would like to look at how institutions interact with First Nations peoples (in the prairies), in particular the art institutions and the oil and gas institutions. I intend to explore relations of friendship and exploitation by placing particular objects/ stories etc. together in a way which offers new dimensionality to these issues. 
       
        Of particular interest to me as an artist and person, is that my work does not set forth binaries, or create definite roles; such as victim /enemy. I am aware that privilege affects power dimensions, which create possibility for exploitation etc. but this is not the main focus of my work. My work aims to explore issues of power and exploitation in such a way that the subtle humanity in all parties be exposed so that we can all see where we may take our own personal responsibility.

I am also very open to being wrong, being exposed and being corrected, being moved deeply, not just intellectually.

Thank you for your time in looking at this, and participation ( please feel free to leave comments as things progress, I am interested in learning and having other opinions / experiences inform this process)

Sincerely,
Sarah Nesbitt