Intertextual

Description:

Jeneen Frei Njootli and Olivia Whetung  facilitated an evening of readings as part of Intertextual. The artists offered their perspectives on two selections: essays from Give back: First Nations Perspectives on Cultural Practice (1992), the eleventh issue of Gallerie: Women artists’ monographs that argued for a radical re-visioning of culture and the functional relationship between artists and communities; and Marcia Crosby’s essay “Nations in Urban Landscapes” (1997), which calls attention to the hybrid histories of Indigenous communities in urban spaces. Njootli and Whetung read selections from the texts using microphones with vocal filters before inviting the audience to join in discussion.

Intertextual was a roving reading group that aimed to examine, critique, create, and support a community based in text while recognizing the process of selection and concomitant erasure that occurs in any process of representation. Taking the critical historiography of Native Art of the Northwest Coast: A Changing History of Ideas (2013) edited by Charlotte Townsend-Gault, Jennifer Kramer, and Ḳi-ḳe-in as a point of provocation, this series belonged to an intertextual discussion of artistic practice and the role of art institutions in Vancouver. This iteration of Intertextual was hosted in relation to Frei Njootli’s residency at Western Front.

Presented with support from The Capilano Tea House. 

Video documentation of this event is available upon request.