By Emma De Sousa, Coordinator of Events and Indigenous Relationships
In 2024 I had the privilege of working with The Whyte on the third year of the Cave and Basin Mural Project. Having recently completed my Master of Art, specializing in Curatorial Studies, I left my second degree solidly aware of the art world, artists, and artworks themselves but feeling a sense of tiredness about it all. There are many ways to consider art and art projects. They give us new ways to think about the world, diffuse political thought and present a variety of interpretations about the world around us. But after studying art for a few years, I started to believe art couldn’t do all it said it could and couldn’t truly make large-scale change in our communities. As an Indigenous person studying any Western-centered discipline, it can be easy to get into these ruts. However, projects like the Cave and Basin Mural Project revitalized the way I understand the importance of art. Demonstrating in real time the way art can change the world around you in significant ways.
This summer, six Indigenous artists came to stay, visit, and create artwork on this land, the land their ancestors and relatives have stewarded since time immemorial. Jarron Poucette (Stoney), Kyle Kaquitts (Stoney), Kristy North Peigan (Blackfoot), Cheyenne Bearspaw (Stoney), Giona Smalleyes (Stoney), and Brendon Many Bears (Blackfoot) came together to create large scale murals on boxes installed at the Cave and Basin National Heritage Site in Banff National Park. It was my job as the Project Assistant at the time, to ensure all the little aspects of the project came together. Attempting to create the perfect conditions for the artists to be able to create the art they want to make. The key word there is “want." In the post-Truth and Reconciliation era in Canada, there has been a major uptick in the desire to support Indigenous-centered art and to have Indigenous programming at schools, galleries, businesses, heritage sites, etc. However, not everyone begins thinking about reconciliation and Indigenization from a good place. Often institutions come into projects with preconceived notions of what Indigenous art should be, often focusing on what they believe non-Indigenous guests would prefer to see and less of what Indigenous artists envision creating. Unlike most of these projects, the artists invited were welcome to paint whatever they wished around the theme of Stories of this Place. This could be rooted in their personal, familial, community, or nations history, culture, spirituality, or involvement on this land and sacred site. The only influence on their work came from the mentors invited to support them in this endeavor, AJA Louden, Bruno Canadien, Joseph Sanchez, and Dawn Saunders Dahl (also project lead) who taught new techniques, and helped artists enact their own concepts and ideas.
Projects developed and run by Indigenous arts administrators such as this one tend to consider the process as much as the product of “art”. In spaces like these, we can focus as much on the meals we will share, workshop development, and opportunities for learning and visiting for artists as much as the painting process and product of the murals. In my understandings as a Métis scholar, I recognize we are building capacity for community building and relationship making through the project itself. There are two ways in which I witnessed this occur, firstly through reinstating community access to land and sovereignty through the art itself. When visitors come to visit the Cave and Basin site and view the murals, or attend an Indigenous Mural Walking Tour, they see art that outlines in detail the Indigenous lived experiences and continued use of this place since time immemorial. The stories of the artists and their communities tell visitors we were and continue to be here, this is what we were/are doing, how we lived then and today, what relationships we had with the land and other communities, and how those relationships have changed. This is important as so many of these stories have been deprioritized with the inception of the Parks system and with processes of colonization. They remind policymakers, visitors, employees, and residents in the Bow Valley of the origins of this place and its importance.
The second way in which I witnessed community building was through working with the artists and mentors themselves. Outside of politics, what other opportunities do we have to engage between nations? Projects like these build relationships between Indigenous artists and arts administrators. Increasing not only a professional network but a different kind of relationality between Indigenous community members from multiple different communities. Working with others outside of my own nation and territory was such an experience and lesson in understanding. Showing that many of us experienced the same issues, came from similar backgrounds and areas, and had similar insecurities and interests. All while learning about the uniquely vibrant diversity of each other's cultures, over simple conversations in the car or the lunchroom between painting sessions.
Indigenous-centered art projects like the Cave and Basin Murals sit at the intersection of everything we do in the heritage/cultural sector. In working on the project, I realized art like this affects policy, legal cases, how we view history, environmental work, activism, education, academics, healthcare, and the list goes on. These murals, these artists, and their art changed the way I view the art world away from the tired and skeptical feelings after studying an inherently colonial discipline's worldview. It teaches the tourist and visitor what it means to be a good guest in this place. As a result, with more Indigenous-centered and led projects like this one, we change this place and make it inherent to consider Indigenous communities, people, and their perspectives before anything we do on this land. With enough effort towards these forms of relation building, we as guests and stewards of this land can develop thriving and truly inclusive spaces throughout the valley.
Want to discover more about Indigenous-led art initiatives supported at The Whyte? View our Indigenous Programming.
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