Offerings

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OFFERINGS - OFFRANDES

OFFERINGS is a collaborative multimedia installation exploring the meaning of gifting and offering. The work explores the complexity of the different practices related to the gesture of offering. Incorporating contemporary and traditional elements, the installation is composed of three main elements.

A longhouse. The presence of this structure in an art gallery space is a way of symbolically marking the territory. Contemporary in style, this construction is inspired by traditional Indigenous knowledge. It was created in collaboration with Rene Martin, senior Mi’gmaq artist from the Listuguj community in Quebec. Here, the longhouse represents a place for protection and peaceful encounters. The armature is partly covered with a membrane on which are projected two video segments depicting the sky over a 24-hour period, presented in time-lapse. These images are a metaphor for Indigenous cosmology. 

A website as a place, a receptacle, a virtual guardian of images, words and sounds inspires through the gestures and rituals associated with gifts and offerings. www.offerings-offrandes.com

Performative rituals. Each presentation of the installation is preceded by a short creation residency during which four local artists are invited to create short performative offering rituals. Each performance is captured on video, edited and then integrated into the installation. The four videos are shown on the big screen in the gallery and are also placed on the website. These interventions are integrated to the installation. They inhabit it.

  • At the Centre d’artistes Vaste et Vague, on the Gaspe Peninsula, the artists were Mary Jane Condo, Ruben Anton Komangapik, Nadia Aït Saïd et Edwige Le Blanc. Videographer/Photographer/Editor: Estelle Marcoux

  • At Open Space in Victoria, the artists were Charles Campbell, Krystal Cook, Cathi Charles Wherry, Bradley Dick and Farheen Haq. Videographer/Photographer/Editor: Kirk Schwartz

  • At the Comox Valley Art Gallery in Courtenay, the artists were: Matt Everson, K’umugwe Cultural Society, Anita Lawrence, Monica McKean, Medwyn McConachy. Cultural Knowledge Contributors: Elder Mary Everson with Andy Everson, Lee Everson. Videographer/Photographer/Editor: Kirk Schwartz