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Prominent First Nations community members Peter and Sam Johnston have embraced extra-community outreach to people outside of their Teslin Tlingit Council community, while upholding tradition as shown in their these portraits of their traditional dress. Their images were a part of a portrait exhibit at the Kwanlin D\u00fcn Cultural Centre last summer, a collaboration between the Fur Real Project and Archbould Photography.<\/p>\n
Below: detail of footwear worn by Sam and Peter Johnston. <\/p>\n
[Photos of Peter and Sam Johnston courtesy of Archbould Photography]<\/p>\n
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As evidenced by Grand Chief Peter Johnston, the contemporary Indigenous person is able to assume multiple identities at the confluence of the worlds they occupy. They can be hunters and trappers at the same time as farmers, artists and university graduates. Poelzer and Coates cite Emma LaRocque\u2019s Defeathering the Indian<\/em>, in which she declares: \u201cthere comes a time when we must recognize each person as an individual rather than as a carbon copy of what we suppose to be his culture.\u201d<\/p>\n This openness to varied approaches will guide communities forward. J.W. McLeod cites Barbra Wakshul when she says that Indigenous leaders \u201cneed to know both their own community [values and history] as well as the Euro-American community because they must function in both societies.\u201d<\/p>\n Recent initiatives like the N\u2019tsi wind energy project on Kluane First Nation territory near Burwash Landing, Yukon, were welcomed by all levels of non-Indigenous and Indigenous governments. The ground-breaking ceremony coincided with National Indigenous Peoples Day 2018, and the event was attended by Grand Chief Peter Johnston, MP Larry Bagnell, territorial government ministers and the chief of Kluane First Nation, among other government officials. The turnout of around 100 represented the community\u2019s enthusiasm to generate self-sufficient power and transition into the modern energy economy.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/K_hGajQ0_qI” _builder_version=”3.21″][\/et_pb_video][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″]<\/p>\n In the last few decades, Indigenous Peoples are increasingly asserting their vision when it comes to sustainably harnessing natural resources from their land. Slowly but surely, the discussion is moving away from portraying the Indigenous population as powerless to settler mandates, and bringing them into the fold as stakeholders. At the same time, the non-Indigenous levels of government (municipal, territorial and federal) know to observe from a respectful distance to allow them to develop at their own pace. With increasing encouragement for First Nations communities to assert their cultural identities, art has emerged as an ideal medium to bridge cultures and keep them relevant going forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″ text_font=”||||||||” text_text_color=”#179e75″]<\/p>\n For those who want to help bridge disparate cultures, immersion gives both parties a chance to warm into each other. Ideally, this takes an extended period of interaction with the other culture\u2019s community.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″ text_font=”||||||||” text_text_color=”#179e75″ header_font=”||||||||”]<\/p>\n To go one step further than visible scenes from daily life, Indigenous art is an ideal medium for documenting longstanding traditions. Drawing from centuries of history, art encompasses a wider scope for historical record; on the other hand, Poelzer and Coates have written that Western historians tend to document culture using a rules-based approach. When the same approach is applied to documenting First Nations culture, this may come across as overly rigid for a comparatively intuitive culture.\u00a0<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″ text_font=”||||||||” text_text_color=”#179e75″]<\/p>\n Similarly during her research in the 1970s and ’80s, anthropologist Julie Cruikshank questioned her recording methodology: for First Nations knowledge-keepers, does a written account represent the raconteur\u2019s nuances as effectively as a live storytelling session? Her takeaways indicated that unlike written work, oral storytelling does better in preserving individual talents, interests and styles of their raconteur \u2013 much like the community service spirit of their art, Cruikshank notes that no oral account is better or less correct than another.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″ text_font=”||||||||” text_text_color=”#179e75″]<\/p>\n Cruikshank said in her book, Life Lived Like a Story<\/em>: \u201cby ordering it this way [written out], I am inevitably interpreting what the subject has chosen to pass on to me.\u201d She continues: \u201cAttempts to sift oral accounts for \u2018facts\u2019 may actually minimize the value of spoken testimonies by asserting positivistic standards for assessing \u2018truth value\u2019 or \u2018distortions.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″ text_font=”||||||||” text_text_color=”#179e75″]As one interview participant told Cruikshank in her book, \u201cI have no money to leave to my grandchildren. My stories are my wealth.\u201d It speaks to a life rich in experience, and not material possessions.[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″ text_font=”||||||||” text_text_color=”#179e75″]Upon this baseline for cross-cultural understanding, reconciliation presents a chance for Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples to build a new path through the arts.[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″ text_font=”||||||||” text_text_color=”#179e75″]In Yukon, the political framework is built upon close collaboration between Indigenous and non-Indigenous governments. With this structure in place, reconciliation is not just an up-and-coming concept as it is in eastern Canada \u2013 the intention has guided the collective territory\u2019s conscience. Looking to Yukon\u2019s unique four-tier government, representatives from the municipal, territorial, federal and Indigenous government systems have equal say in official proceedings. Unofficially, the respect for First Nations groups is paramount and a project will not proceed unless they give their approval for development in the territory \u2013 all of which is traditional Indigenous land.[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″ text_font=”||||||||” text_text_color=”#179e75″]Within this political fabric, art presents a softer approach to building relationships. Politicians engage actively in First Nations festivals: at this year\u2019s Moosehide Gathering, MP Larry Bagnell was invited to perform on his ceremonial drums alongside Indigenous performers \u2013 all on stage were dressed in traditional First Nations outfits.[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″ text_font=”||||||||” text_text_color=”#179e75″]Such gestures are an olive branch for the region\u2019s populations. This reflects a deliberate interest in mending broken relationships between Yukon\u2019s Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations.[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.22.3″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_divider _builder_version=”3.21″][\/et_pb_divider][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.22.3″][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_button button_url=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/mrp\/artsyfn\/rapping-the-way-to-the-light\/” button_text=”Previous: Rapping the way to the light” button_alignment=”left” _builder_version=”3.21″][\/et_pb_button][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_button button_url=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/mrp\/artsyfn\/arts-for-all-the-community\/” button_text=”Next: Art as a community good” button_alignment=”right” _builder_version=”3.21″][\/et_pb_button][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Prominent First Nations community members Peter and Sam Johnston have embraced extra-community outreach to people outside of their Teslin Tlingit Council community, while upholding tradition as shown in their these portraits of their traditional dress. Their images were a part of a portrait exhibit at the Kwanlin D\u00fcn Cultural Centre last summer, a collaboration between […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-145","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n