The curatorial question: What is your relationship to monuments, as someone from the Prairies now living in Ottawa? In approaching this question, I must situate myself as a nēhiyaw-iskwēw with German-Canadian settler and Métis lineage who was born and raised on a Treaty 6 First Nation in Saskatchewan and what it means to now be living on unceded Alguonquin territory in the city of Ottawa. The themes addressed in my response are: movement and permanence, Indigenous fatherhood, and exploring language as monument.
In my video response, I hang a picture on the wall of my dining room. The artwork is by Jeffrey Thomas, leading scholar and artist who is also nimanācimākan (nēhiyawēwin word for “in-law” translates to “the one I respect”). His work examines the Monument and Indigeneity and pursuing this research is what led him to move to Ottawa in the 1990s and in turn, is one of the reasons I now live there. His examinations of Indigenous presence and absence in monuments is also a study of representations of Indigenous fatherhood.
On the other wall of my dining room, already hanging is a portrait I took of my father Mervyn J. Arcand. He is seen walking away from the camera on a day that represents his retirement from farming. In studying the work of Jeff Thomas, we see that fatherhood, through his depictions of his son, is a central pillar in his work and life. In hanging these pictures side by side, I am honouring the pillars of strength in my own life, Jeff and my father whose work as a farmer gave me a strong foundation and connection to our land and community.
Moving to a new city and creating a new relationship to place was not easy; my connection to family, community and networks in Saskatchewan remain strong and unbroken. Over the course of seven years and three different rental homes, I never hung up a picture. For me, the act of hanging pictures on the walls was a declaration of permanence – similar to erecting a monument. Doing so signifies that I mean to stay.
After hanging the picture, I sit down to type on my typewriter. I am thinking about the future and what keeps me connected to my community since I moved to Ottawa in 2015. I realize that it has always been family and language. I write a letter in nēhiyawēwin: Language is my monument.
Joi T. Arcand is an artist from Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, Saskatchewan, Treaty 6 Territory, currently residing in Ottawa, Ontario. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with Great Distinction from the University of Saskatchewan in 2006. In 2018, Arcand was shortlisted for the prestigious Sobey Art Award. Her practice includes installation, photography and design and is characterized by a visionary and subversive reclamation and indigenization of public spaces through the use of Cree language and syllabics.
Recent solo exhibitions include Central Art Garage (Ottawa, ON); College Art Galleries (Saskatoon, SK); ODD Gallery (Dawson City, Yukon); Mendel Art Gallery (Saskatoon); Wanuskewin Heritage Park (Saskatoon); Dunlop Art Gallery (Regina). Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions, including Àbadakone at the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, ON) and INSURGENCE/RESURGENCE at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.
Arcand has been artist-in-residence at Wanuskewin Heritage Park (Saskatoon); OCAD University (Toronto); Plug-In Institute of Contemporary Art (Winnipeg); the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity; and Klondike Institute of Art and Culture (Dawson City, Yukon); and Harbourfront Centre (Toronto).
Along with Felicia Gay, Arcand was the co-founder of the Red Shift Gallery, a contemporary Indigenous art gallery in Saskatoon. She was founder and editor of the Indigenous art magazine kimiwan (2012-2014). She has curated various exhibitions including Language of Puncture at Gallery 101 (Ottawa, 2017), nākatēyimisowin an outdoor mural exhibition in Ottawa. In her past role as Director of SAW Gallery’s Nordic Lab she curated The Travellers (Supermarket Art Fair, Stockholm, Sweden, 2018). She is now pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Cree degree at University nuhelotʼįne thaiyotsʼį nistameyimâkanak Blue Quills and is a member of the art and curatorial collective Wolf Babe.
