“The concept of this diptych comes from the artist in residence experience. It was a pleasure to experience behind the scenes of the Royal BC Museum and learn from the staff we met along the way. From the research and collections to the actual displays, I was amazed to see how all departments work separately but for the same cause.
On this note, my idea comes from visiting Grant Keddie from the Archaeology department. I was interested in the way he invested his time into recreating the act of making tools and his interest in DNA. I thought about how the museum is compartmentalized in a way that separates the experience of viewing the content held in the museum displays. Contrast to how things systemically function in the gallery for understandable reasons, my photographs will convey an alternative message of INTERCONNECTEDNESS stemming from an Indigenous perspective.
Coming from an Iroquois philosophy of living, I believe that we are all connected as a human species. This concept is important for me to accentuate in this piece. In one of the photographs I will have a close-up shot of an arrowhead (from the Royal BC Museum) pricking my finger, exposing a drop of blood. I envision this shot to be very detailed with a stark white background so the finger, drop of blood and arrowhead have a high contrast impact. The reason for exposing the drop off blood relates to the title of this work “We All Bleed Blood”.
In my lifetime I have always been taught the US and THEM allowing for me to create barriers to connect. I’ve now come to understand and learn about soul development, collective consciousness and our journey as a human species to come back to UNITY. Exposing the blood reinforces that we are all of the same energy, same world and we need to understand WHOLENESS and that HEALING is for all human beings and most importantly the land.
The other photograph is of myself painted the colors of the medicine wheel; black, white, red and yellow. My hope is that my whole body is covered and the perspective of the shot shows NO actual nudity. This photo of me painted the medicine wheel colors conveys the message of WHOLENESS, UNITY and BALANCE. The medicine wheel fundamentally teaches the notion of respect. Humankind is not separate from any other thing in the world but just another living, breathing creature among many. The medicine wheel teachings can be interpreted in different ways but always coming back WHOLENESS and BALANCE.
These two images will support each other in a way that is sacred and spiritual.”
