{"id":55,"date":"2016-10-31T18:34:59","date_gmt":"2016-11-01T01:34:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/clara401f\/?p=55"},"modified":"2016-11-06T22:25:54","modified_gmt":"2016-11-07T05:25:54","slug":"55","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/clara401f\/2016\/10\/31\/55\/","title":{"rendered":"“Recreation Bingo Tonight, 8 o’clock” – God’s Lake Narrows and Screen Sovereignty"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is Screen Sovereignty?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sovereignty is about space and sovereignty is about identity. In the context of colonialism, this means reclaiming space and identity. Visual, or screen sovereignty, are ways that Indigenous artists use new media to claim or reclaim space and identity. Kristen\u00a0Dowel locates visual sovereignty in the act of production.<\/p>\n

“We’re doing it ourselves! We’re producing our own images.” – Cleo Reece, in Kristen Dowell<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Visual Sovereignty is\u00a0process\u00a0<\/em>as well as product – medium as well as message, if you will.<\/p>\n

How\u00a0<\/em>a piece is produced,\u00a0by<\/em>\u00a0whom, and\u00a0for <\/em>whom\u00a0<\/em>makes a big difference to the final product.<\/p>\n

Visual Sovereignty is the unique process of new media creation by Indigenous people with an Indigenous audience in mind. In particular it uses techniques that establish a space that is uniquely Indigenous by mediating who can enter and how. This means that the process of creating a work that establishes sovereignty will influence how that work is received by the audience.<\/p>\n

Kevin Burton\u2019s God\u2019s Lake Narrows <\/em>is an example of screen sovereignty because it establishes Indigenous space and identity by creating Insiders and Outsiders, putting forward an invitation that’s mediated the author and reclaiming representation. The result is that the audience is drawn into a process that brings them into proximity with God’s Lake in an intimate, respectful and uniquely Indigenous way.<\/p>\n

Insiders & Outsiders<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up here\u2026 If you\u2019re not an Indian, you\u2019ve probably never been there.\u201d – Kevin Lee Burton<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up here\u2026 If you\u2019re not from the reserve all the houses may seem the same to you.”\u00a0– Kevin Lee Burton<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Through these two statements, Burton is saying that you are unfamiliar with the place that he is part of and is part of him. This means you don\u2019t have immediate access to the same type of knowledge. You\u2019re an outsider. This isn\u2019t meant to be hostile or unwelcoming, its just the positional reality and his firm but gentle stating of it is important in establishing sovereignty in God\u2019s Lake Narrows. <\/em><\/p>\n

Part of sovereignty is that there are people that belong and there are people that do not \u2013 Insiders and Outsiders. Burton distinguishes between these groups in a powerful way by speaking to a non-Indigenous audience and reminding them that they are outsiders to this piece, to God\u2019s Lake and to Indigeneity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are Differences between you and I.\u201d\u00a0– Kevin Lee Burton<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sovereignty exists in relationship to the outside. These phrases of differentiation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous audience reinforce sovereignty. Dowel explains that, “the significance of having non-Native audiences recognize these media works as Aboriginal serves as a form of recognition of Aboriginal presence in Canada\u201d.<\/p>\n

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God’s Lake Narrows – Kevin Lee Burton<\/p><\/div>\n

The photos of people are also a powerful way of creating Insiders and Outsiders. Instead of the viewer intruding and looking in on the subjects, it\u2019s as if they are looking out at the viewer on the outside – as if the viewer <\/em>is the object. This is a powerful way of communicating sovereignty.<\/p>\n

An Artist Mediated Invitation<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, Burton doesn\u2019t stop at differentiating between Insiders and Outsiders. He continues to establish screen sovereignty by initiating a process of invitation with the audience. He invites you into his world and allows you to see God\u2019s Lake Narrows. But it\u2019s not the same view you would get if you just googled it.<\/p>\n

Go ahead and try it right now: Google God\u2019s Lake Narrows, select \u2018images\u2019 and see what type of view you get.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t get the same sense of the space or identity that Burton provides.<\/p>\n

Feel free to share any interesting observations from your Google search in the comments below. We all might get slightly different results!<\/p><\/div>\n

That\u2019s because the view when you google it is curated by a search engine. The view of the reservation in God\u2019s Lake Narrows <\/em>is mediated by the artist \u2013 an artist who knows the place intimately and who carries it in the fabric of his identity. You can\u2019t get that on Google.\u00a0Google let\u2019s you <\/em>control how you navigate the images results. Of course, being a corporation, it also influences what you can see . But it let\u2019s you <\/em>choose which images you look at, whether you\u2019ll read the caption or not, how long you spend with your curser hovered over an image.<\/p>\n

In Burton\u2019s piece he <\/em>is in control. He <\/em>determines what images you see and what order they are in and what sounds you hear as you do so. He invites the outsiders in but it is far from voyeurism: The process is mediated by the artist and the viewer must relinquish some of their control if they want to engage with the piece.<\/p>\n

This creates sovereignty within the piece but it also extends beyond the artwork and into cyberspace. When you Google God’s Lake Narrows, the results are interspersed with the photos from Burton’s piece staring back at you: a reminder that in an ultra connected cyberspace, Burton’s particular style of screen sovereignty is not confined by the parameters of the National Film Board’s site and claims space and identity \u00a0that could otherwise be determined by the colonizer.<\/p>\n

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The Process<\/strong><\/p>\n

The process involved in Burton\u2019s invitation first has viewers at a distance but gradually allows them into closer proximity. You start out watching a zoomed out map of Canada as the interactive piece loads.<\/p>\n

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God’s Lake Narrows – Kevin Lee Burton<\/p><\/div>\n

Then based on the sites geo caching of your location, you\u2019re told how far away you are from God\u2019s Lake: 2,036 km for me. Your specific location is pointed out just as you are told you have little idea of where God\u2019s Lake is \u2013 this has a disarming effect.<\/p>\n

There’s reciprocity in this. The audience can’t know\u00a0God’s Lake Narrows\u00a0<\/em>while itself remaining unknown. This reminds me of one of my favourite lines in A Tribe Called Red’s\u00a0We are the Halluci Nation<\/em>:<\/p>\n

“The callers-of-names cannot see us but we can see them.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The images that Burton chooses continue the process of gradually inviting you closer on the artist\u2019s terms rather than your own.\u00a0First, you are shown images of the outside <\/em>of a house – curtains drawn, windows closed.<\/p>\n

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God’s Lake Narrows – Kevin Lee Burton<\/p><\/div>\n

Then, by calling your attention to the front porch, he prompts you to look a bit closer than you might have initially.<\/p>\n

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God’s Lake Narrows – Kevin Lee Burton<\/p><\/div>\n

Only once you\u2019ve taken a closer look at his bidding, spent more time paying attention, are you invited inside the houses. Then you\u2019re in their living rooms, with their children and their family photos, watching their T.V.<\/p>\n

And they aren’t houses anymore, they’ve become homes.<\/p>\n

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God’s Lake Narrows – Kevin Lee Burton<\/p><\/div>\n

These images very deliberately take you through a process of slow<\/em> invitation. The sense of hesitancy towards a newcomer is palpable, and eloquently justified by Burton\u2019s words:<\/p>\n

“Yeah reserves seem like closed communities and you might feel scrutinized when you’re passing through on the way to the beach or cottage country or whatever. It’s a protective thing. There are different social codes. What do you expect from people that have a legacy of displacement and removal?”\u00a0– Kevin Lee Burton<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Invitation as Sovereignty<\/strong><\/p>\n

The act of invitation is an act of sovereignty. By saying \u2018you may enter\u2019, you establish that it is your own space, not the visitors. And to the sound of footsteps crunching on snow, Burton does this, at his own pace, on his own authority. The way he slowly and measuredly brings the audience closer reminds me again of the\u00a0We Are Halluci Nation\u00a0<\/em>music video – how the birds eye view gets gradually closer to the Halluci Nation Seal. Then you can finally read it and it cuts through the name’s placed on\u00a0<\/em>the Haluci Nation at the beginning of the video by the “callers-of-names”.<\/p>\n