| cistêmaw iyîniw ohci - for the tobacco being performance / intervention / homage june 16, 2001 makwa sahgaiehcan first nation & town of loon lake, saskatchewan background: in june of 2000 i visited mr. harry blackbird of makwa sahgaiehcan first nation in saskatchewan to ask him how to say certain technological terms in cree. as the terms included words such as radio, television, electricity, telephone - it reminded mr. blackbird of how information was transmitted prior to electricity. he told the story of his grandfather, cistêmaw iyîniw who travelled between makwa sahgaiehcan, onion lake, joseph bighead, chitik lake, thunderchild, waterhen lake, island lake and flying dust first nations - inviting people to upcoming ceremonies. a few weeks later i had a very strong dream about process & running. i was immediately compelled to start running daily and in the process shed 50 pounds over the course of the next year. the story of cistemaw iyiniw stayed with me and i felt both a connection to him and his story, as well as a deep sense of gratitude that such a person and a story could change my life in such a profound way. i knew i would have to somehow honour him and started to imagine what kind of project i could create. as i continued running, i one day found myself doing my daily hour runs through a remote northern cree/dene/metis community and noticed how my actions and presence caused a stir. dogs ran with me, kids came outside to say hi, cars slowed to observe my journey. i thought about the many elders i had met and listened to, told stories of how we as aboriginal people were once very physically active. i also thought about stories told to me about our inherent friendliness and how a long time ago strangers were always welcomed and fed. later in 2000, i attended the DOPE symposium (development of performance events) in sackville and saw an excerpt of glen redpath's piece *clock* and immediately had a sense of how i could formalise a fitting homage to cistemaw iyiniw. in early 2001 i met with lori blondeau of tribe inc. who was planning a performance series entitled savage divas: putting the wild back into the west. she invited me to present a piece in conjunction with the series. i told her of a couple pieces i had in mind, from them she chose cistêmaw iyiniw ohci. in june of 2001 i ran the reserve enlisting the collaborative interaction of three artists from different disciplines: louise halfe, a nehiyaw-iskwew poet and writer; joseph naytowhow, a nehiyaw-napew storyteller and singer; and cheli nighttraveller, a nehiyaw-iskwew/apihtaw kosisan-iskwew performance artist. i asked each to visit different parts of makwa sahgaiehican reserve and the adjacent town of loon lake (where many band members live). during these visits i left their interaction up to their disgression, however i asked for 2 things to be addressed as part of the performative activity i was undertaking. components of cistêmaw iyîniw ohci:
1 runner
|