“Hey! Come check out the title of this painting!”
“What is it?”
“’Fucking Creeps They’re Environmental Terrorists’!”
“Wow! I’m going to take a picture of it.”
Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun’s exhibition “Unceded Territories” is meant to cause reaction and dialogue. In the case of this painting, unapologetically titled “Fucking Creeps They’re Environmental Terrorists”, the painting causes a visceral reaction in the viewer. The title is certainly striking, but so are the colours and the clear predatory nature of the oil executives that are represented in this painting. Two of the men in business suits have sinister heads with forked tongues. The third man clearly alludes to the massive and devastating BP oil spill of 2010. Anger is clear in this painting. However, I think that this piece must be viewed as part of the whole exhibit. Not only does Yuxweluptun portray his anger through his painting, the sorrow he feels for Aboriginal peoples is evident in other works. Paintings that depict a scorched earth, a clear cut forest, a broken sky, all point to the real and lasting effects of colonialism and environmental terrorism. People and land have been affected. While we can take a picture of a painting, where do we go from there?