10 planet of the arts / december 1997

of commodities, Oh, and voting about every four years for govern- ments that do not seem to be able to do a whole lot about our prob- lems. In effect, these people dispersed into the virtual social void of 1990s mainstream living.

The intuition that ta-lall-SAHM-cane shared with his new con- servationist allies was that the experience of being in Sims Creek — looking and bearing and touching and smelling and tasting the habi- tat — could be a fuller (and therefore more memorable) experience for people alerted to the history of the landscape surrounding them, a history grounded in First Nations title and the telling of this history down generations from time immemorial.

The cross-over between narrow and broad frames of reference turns up here — the heightening of experience that is available through a culturally mediated approach to wilderness appeals to the behaviour of individual satisfaction-seeking. mainstream culture conditions us to be guided by what “turns us on”. Ta-lall-SAHM- cane’s intuition was that there are deeper personal sensibilities that can be affected in a desirable way. The things that trigger these sensi- bilities are phenomena such as justice, ecology, cultural integrity and social-historical responsibility — in other words, phenomena that any socialized person acquires through the process of reaching maturity. On the surface, the triggering of these sensibilities is exciting, but this transient satisfaction quickly gives way to a more reflective, deep and lasting experience of the context which exists about oneself.

These sensibilities are brought into consciousness through the formulation of shared meanings and mutual understandings. The inter-subjective nature of these formulations means that they go beyond the inward self and enter into historical time and social space. In this way, they enter the public and historical world, and endure there because of their relevance as a basis from which people can be guided in choosing the best way to live together in relation to changing circumstances.

This philosophizing is all well and good as far as it goes, but the force directly propelling the Witness project is not truth and beauty of an abstract sort. It is the destruction of old growth forest at an aggressive pace by corporate interests whose economic hurry is moti- vated by three fundamental political facts: title to Sims Creek was not lawfully obtained from the owners of the land, the Squamish Nation; a decision can be made overnight by government — and now perhaps, following the Supreme Court of Canada ruling, by court injunction — to halt all logging in Squamish territory that lacks formal sanction from the Squamish Nation; and, the influence that public opinion can have in prompting government to act.

If you were International Forest Products Limited, wouldn't you be nervous right now? How much longer can the bad fiction of Tree Forest License #38 hold up as a pretext for claiming that the manner and location of logging by International Forest Products Limited in Squamish Nation terri- tory is beyond accountability to anyone other than the company’s shareholders?

And if you were the govern- ment, wouldn't you be nervous too, since there is increasing public awareness of the bad fiction that B.C’s Forest Practices Code (FPC) would never allow clear-cutting of the little remaining pristine old growth forest in the Lower Mainland?

In a similar regard, it is worth mentioning the bad fiction that the public has knowledgeably sanc- tioned the industrial destruction of the Sims, Clendenning, Elaho, and Upper Lillooet watersheds, and did so through the provincial gov- ernment’s RPAC (Regional Public Advisory Committee) process. Any politician who wants us to take this ridiculous viewpoint seriously probably gets nervous at the thought of the public seeing the FPC and RPAC on the ground - literally and figuratively speaking — and vot- ing on whether the destruction is justified.

he bad fictions actively propagated about Sims Creek and

Squamish Nation.territory more generally have caused the

practice of witnessing to be modified from its basis in the life of the Coast Salish people.

In contrast to the rhythm of renewal and succession that carries forward in witnessed ceremonies such as receiving an ancestral name, celebrating a birth, or holding a memorial, witnessing at Sims Creek is connected to the palpable annihilation of a people’s cultural and economic base. Rather than a change that reflects the continuance of

How much longer can the bad fiction of Tree Forest License #38 hold up?

If you were International Forest Products, wouldn’t you be nervous?

life, at Sims Creek the change to the landscape involves tearing apart a complex web of human, cultural and physical ecology that has flourished for millennia. Little if anything of the rewards from reduc- ing the landscape to barrenness flows back to the site. Certainly no one knows how to clone the richness of the site in terms of its inte- gration of economic, social, cultural, ecological and historical dimen- sions.

There is a grittiness to the trek to Sims Creek that arises from travelling across roads punched through old growth forest, with mas- sive logging equipment rumbling by, and the starkness of clear-cut- ting never very far from view. The grotesque opportunism of a cor- poration capitalizing on the political subjugation of the Squamish Nation strongly inhibits the tendency to romanticize the forest or the Coast Salish practice of witnessing. On one level, the scarred land- scape offers a graphic image of the choices that we have as a society about how to relate to the land. On another level, what the landscape shows is not only the choices being rejected by those with power but who is being excluded from the decision-making, and what the his- tory is of this exclusion.

In the face of such adverse circumstances, the cross-cultural essence of the witness ceremony comes to the fore. Ta-lall-SAHM-cane explains that the ceremony is “not about what culture you are from. You can participate in a witness ceremony as long as you show your willingness to honour the ceremony. And you show your willingness when, if your name is called, you stand up to allow yourself to be recognized.”

The opportunity for members of the mainstream public to par- ticipate in a witness ceremony does not overcome the problem of how such witnesses can carry out their “reporting” function to a home community when many of them inhabit the anonymous void of contemporary social arrangements. In response to this problem, the initial strategy devised by the organizers of the Witness project was to encourage participants to keep a notebook recording their experiences and thoughts relating to Sims Creek.

Their idea was that a display of these notebooks in public space, specifically in the Roundhouse, could simulate the interactive con- versation that a witnessed event is meant to be followed up with.

The idea of notebooks gave way to encouraging any form of

expressive response to the Witness experience, and the opportunity to

May 1997. Wilderness educator John Clarke leap-frogging on rocks at Sims Creek. Cut block 72.2 is in the background.

have such work displayed in a full-fledged art show. Two factors influ- encing this opening up of the form of the reporting activity were the arts programming mandate of the Roundhouse and the recruitment of Nancy Bleck’s contacts in the Vancouver visual arts community to participate in the Witness

The seeming lack of public dialogue also favours the individual, self-referential parameters that today still typically structure the cre- ation of a visual work of art. These parameters would be opened up by the subsequent presentation of works in the aggregated context of an unjuried show. An exhibition of visual art also more fully exploits the physical resources of the Roundhouse as a platform to communi- cate the existence of a project to a broad audience.

Such strategic use of the facility is encouraged by Roundhouse Arts Programmer Amir Ali Alibhai. “We're new, and we are also experimental in many ways because we are the only community cen- tre in Vancouver that is arts focussed. So we're ground-breaking in

certain ways.” For Alibhai, a project such as Witness puts to the test whether barriers can be overcome between groups in society that often have little if any interaction or dialogue.

The community centre functions to facilitate and shelter such cross-overs in order to bring genuine public space into being, and to make that space accessible.

alf way around the world eighty years ago people rallying to

the slogan “Land, Peace, Bread” brought down a regime

based on the servitude and dispossession of those most closely tied to the land.

The important lessons learned since that time are that coercion can serve as a highly effective political means to bring about peace- able social relations and that social welfare is a favoured substitute for socio-economic enfranchisement.

What are some other lessons?

Land: As long as we inhabit this planet, land will remain funda- mental to human existence.

We have moved past the deceptive rhetoric of peace because it is used too frequently to refer to pacification. The perspective that title to First Nations territory in British Columbia was extinguished despite the absence of any treaty to substantiate such a significant event goes hand in hand with the residential school system, laws ban- ning the potlatch, and other measures that impose peace. Or rather pacification.

Justice: There can be no true peace without justice.

It has taken many years to advance legal thinking to the point of the Supreme Court of Canada ruling that justice in the matter of First Nations title to the land is a question of truthful history. In that rul- ing, the evidence of First Nations oral history has been accorded as much value as others histories. The implication of this ruling is that fabricated histories that conceal the coerced dispossession of First Nations peoples from their land can be discredited properly to the detriment of those who have profited from their lies being insulated from the scrutiny of reasonable people.

Belief in justice resides in ordinary people as part of what is need- ed to live together and have available the highest possibilities that human society can offer its members. And so, much as our appetites have been conditioned to consume things, we do not live by bread alone any more than we did two millennia ago. This is an insight for which a number of visual artists and creative people more generally have taken on a focussed responsibility to maintain and articulate.

Pooling with those of others one’s insight into the course of his- tory and the workings of society in a venue such as the Roundhouse materializes a chunk of the repository of possibilities that permit change to take place in human affairs. It also assembles people com- mitted to such change.

Community art: Community art processes constitute one of the sites in which informed change can be proposed in a cogent form and implementation of such change can be motivated in a coherent, accessible manner.

Land, justice, and community art have been fused together pur- posefully and creatively in the Witness project. The initiative has taken us many important steps towards the realization of its goals.

Its powerful combination of constituencies, concerns and strate-

gies promises to take us much further yet. O)

Photographs courtesy Nancy Bleck

40 planet of the arts 7 december 1997

‘of commodities. Oh, and voting about every four years for gover ‘ments that do not seem to be able todo a whole lot about our prob lems. In effect, these people dispersed into the virtual socal void of 1990s mainstream living. The intuition that taal SAHM-cane shared with his new con- servations allies ws thatthe experience of being in Sims Creck — ing an smelling and tasting the habi tat could bea filler (and therefore more memorable experience for

ooking and bearing arid tow

people alerted to the history ofthe landscape surrounding them, 2 history grounded in Fits Nations tie and the telling ofthis history oven generations from time immemorial

The cross-over between natrow and broad frames of reference turns up here ~ the heightening of experince that is avaiable ‘through a culturally mediated approach to wilderness appeals othe Lbchaviour of individual satisfiction-secking, mainstream culture conditions us to be guided by what “turns us on’ Ta-al-SAHM:

‘anes intuition yas that there are deeper personal sensibilities that ‘amb affected ina desirable way. The things that trigger these sens bites are phenomena sch as justice, ecology, cultural integrity and social-hitoricalresponsbilty in other words, phenomena that ny socialized person acquires through the proces of reaching maturity ‘On the surfice, the triggering ofthese sensibilities is exciting, but this teansen satisfaction quickly gives way ta moe reflective, deep and lasting experience of the context which exist about ones

These sensibilities are brought into consciousnes though the formulation of shared meanings and mutual understandings. The iter-subjective nature of these formulations means that they go beyond the inward self and enter into historical time and social pace. In this way they enter the public and historical world, and endure there because of thet relevance a basis from which people can be sided in choosing the best way to live together in elation to changing circumstances,

‘This philosophizing is ll well and good as far sit goes, but the force directly propeling the Witness project isnot truth and beauty ofan abstract sort. It isthe destruction of ol growth forest at an aggresive pace by corporate interests whose economic hurry is moti ‘ated by thre fundamental political facts: tet Sims Creek was not lawfly obtained from the owners ofthe land, the Squamish Nation; «decision cn be made overnight by government - and now perhaps, following the Supreme Court of Canada rling, by cour injunction = tohal ll logging in Squamish territory that lacks formal sanction fom the Squamish Nation; and, the influence that public opinion ‘an ave in prompting government to act

Ifyou were International Foret Products Limited, wouldnt you bbe nervous right now? How much longer can the bad ition of Tree Forest License #38 hold up asa pretext fo daimng thatthe manner and location of logging by International Forest Products Limited in Squamish Nation terzi- tory is beyond accountability to anyone other than the company’s shareholders?

‘And if you were the govern ‘ment, wouldst you be nervous to, since there is increasing. public swareness of the bad fiction that BCs Forest Practices Code (FPC) vould never allow clear-cutting of the little remaining pristine old ‘growth forest in the Lower Mainlind?

In a similar regard it is worth ‘mentioning the bad fiction thatthe public has knowledgeably sanc tioned the industrial destruction of the Sims, Clendenning, lho, and Upper Lillooet watersheds and di so through the provincial gow ‘ernment’ RPAC (Regional Public Advisory Committee) proces. Any politician who wants us to take this ridiculous viewpoint seriously probably getsmervous at the thought ofthe publicsecing the FPCand, PAC on the ground -itrally and figuratively speaking ~ and vt- ing on whether the destruction is justified

‘Squamish Nation territory mote generally have cased the practice of witnessing tobe mode from ts basis inthe ie ofthe Coast Salish people.

In contras tothe rhythm of renewal and sucession that carries forward in witnessed cercmonis sucha receiving an ancestral nme, <elebating birt, oF holding a memorial witnesing at Sims Creek is connected to the palpable annihilation ofa people's cultural and ‘economic base Rather than a change that eflcsthe continuance of

T: ‘bad fictions actively propagated about Sims Creek and

How much longer can the bad fiction of Tree Forest License #38 hold up?

If you were International Forest Products, wouldn't you be nervous?

Iie, at Sims Creek the change othe landscape involves tearing apart ‘complex web of human, cultural and physical ecology that has flourished for millennia Lite if anything of the reward from redue ing the landscape to barrenness flows back to the ste Certainly no ‘one knows how to clone the rchnes of the stein terme of ts inte gation of economic, socal cultural, ecological and historical dimen

‘There is gritinss tothe tek to Sims Creek that arises from ‘ravellng actos roads punched through od growth forest, wth mas sve logging equipment rumbling by, and the starkness of clear-cut ‘ing never very ft fom view. The grotesque opportunism of a cor poration capitalizing on the politi subjgation of the Squamish ‘ation strongly inhibits the tendeney to romantcize the forest or the ‘Coast Salish practice of witnessing. On one lve the scarred lan ‘cape offers a graphic image ofthe coer that we have asa society bout how to relate tothe land On another level what the landscape shows isnot only the choices being rejected by those with power but ‘who is being excluded from the decision-making, and what the hs tory i ofthis exclusion.

In the face of such adverse circumstances, the cross-cultural sence of the witness. ceremony comesto th for. Tall SAHM-ane explains thatthe ceremony is “not about what clture you are from. You «an participate in a witness ceremony a lng as you show your wilingness to honour the ceremony. And you show your willingness when, if your name i lle, you stand up to allow yourself tobe recognized”

‘The opportunity fr aembers ofthe mainstream public to par ticipate in a witness ceremony doesnot overcome the problem of how such witneses can carryout thei “eporting” function to a home community when many of them inhabit the anonymous void of contemporary socal arrangements. In response to this problem, the nial strategy devised by the organizers ofthe Witness project was to encourage participants to keep 4 notebook recording thie experience and thoughts eating to Sims Creck

‘Thee idea was that a display ofthese notebooks in public space, specifically in the Roundhouse, could simulate the

‘eration that a witnesed event is meant tobe fllowed up with “The fea of notebooks gave way to encouraging any form of ‘expressive response othe Witnes experience, and the opportunity to

have such work displayed in ull edged art show. Two fctrsinfu «cing this opening up ofthe form ofthe eporting activity were the ats programming mandate ofthe Roundhouse and the recruitment ‘of Nancy Bleck’ contacts inthe Vancouver visual ats community t0 pticipate in the Witness

‘The seeming lack of public dalogue also favours the individual, sel-eferemia parameters that today stil typically structure the ce ation ofa visual work of art. These parameters would be opened up bythe subsequent presentation of works in the aggregated context of. an unjuried shoe. An exhibition of visual art also more fll exploits the physical resources of the Roundhouse a platform to communi- ‘ate the existence of project to abroad audience

Such strategic use of the fact i encouraged by Roundhouse ‘Acts Programmer Amir Ali Alibhai. "Were new, and we are also ‘experimental in many ways because we are the only community cen ‘ue in Vancouver that i arts focused, So we ground-breaking in

‘May 197. Wilderness edveator John Clark lesp-4rogging on rocks at Sims Creek Cut block 72.2 nthe bacground

certain ways” For Alia, a project such as Witness puts tothe test whether barriers can be overcome between groups in society that ‘often have litle if any interaction or dialogue

‘The community entre fonctions to facilitate and sheter such

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have taken on a focussed responsibility to maintain and articulate

Pooling with those of others one's insight into the ours of his tory and the working of society in venue suchas the Roundhouse taterilzes a chunk of the epostory of possibilities that permit change to take place in human afar. Italo assembles people com smited to such change

‘Community art: Community at proceses constitute one of the sites in which informed change ean be proposed in a cogent form and {implementation of such change can be motivated in a coher

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Photographs courtesy Nancy Bleck