RESPONSE PROGRAM
Lunchtime Talks
Marilyn Carpenter and George Lawson
Join us for this presentation on art and First Nations issues in a welcoming environment. Food and drink served! All welcome!
Thursday 27 November, 11:30AM
Kéxwusm-áyakn Student Centre (LB 196), Capilano University
Marilyn Carpenter will offer a short presentation on the massive commemorative art installation, Walking With Our Sisters, a collaborative project that continues to engage communities across Canada while it honours Missing and Murdered Indigenous women and children from the Indian Residential School System. Marilyn will discuss her contribution to the project and the influence that artistic works can have on issues of social justice. A brief historical context will be provided on issues such as historical relations pre-Confederation, the transition to forced assimilation and why many issues from these times remain unresolved.
Marilyn Carpenter is a facilitator, workshop developer and community educator. Her work, study and volunteer placements have allowed her to live throughout various regions of Canada as well as in Southern Brazil. Marilyn has an Associate Degree of Global Stewardship (CapU 2010) and a Diploma of Intercultural Communication and Community Development from CEGEP Marie-Victorin in Montreal (2006). She is currently working towards her Bachelors of Liberal Studies at Capilano, with directed studies investigating issues surrounding art and decolonization. In 2011, Marilyn attended Emily Carr University of Art and Design for the summer session of the Urban Access to Aboriginal Art Program. Her writing has appeared in This Magazine and Your Daily Cap.
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George Lawson will talk about his recent photographic series of the community at Gitsegukla, sharing his technical expertise with photography, while addressing how the medium can evoke and document First Nations issues. He will also provide a personalised response to the Witness Blanket at Capilano University.
As I walked into the room of the Witness Blanket, the smell of wood filled my nose and I was transported home to my reserve when I was just a child. A fond smell that has so many memories, I instantly felt at ease. Then, coming closer to the piece, I realized that what filled this wooden blanket were little memories, bits and pieces that have been collected to make a whole: they didn’t bring smiles though. All I could feel was pain. My whole life I grew up in such a Western society and no one would tell me what the Indian Residential School System was all about. I had no idea how intense this was for my people until I went up north to my community in Gitsegukla... – George Lawson
George Lawson is a Gitxsan photographer who has been studying the medium for almost ten years, at institutions such as Capilano University and Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver. George has been undertaking several major photography projects in the last few years, and he has recently been awarded the YVR Art Foundation's Youth Art Scholarship to realise his ambitions. George is currently trying to capture the essence of Gitsegukla, a community where his tribe resides (near New Hazelton, BC), using the power of photography, so that others can view and understand Gitsegukla the way he does.
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Lunchtime Talks is a series featuring guest artists from the Lower Mainland focussing on art and the representation of indigenous cultures, specifically through issues raised by the Witness Blanket, a commemorative artwork displayed at Capilano University that addresses the legacy of the Indian Residential School System. This series is part of Response, an educational program created by the Presentation House Gallery in partnership with First Nations Student Services at Capilano University. For more info contact Sydney Hart (Education Coordinator at Presentation House Gallery) at s.hart [at] presentationhousegallery [dot] org