RESPONSE PROGRAM
The Response Book: Weaving Histories
* Please note:
This call is open only to individuals of Indigenous descent (status, non-status, Métis or Inuit) over 18 living in the Lower Mainland, BC
Inspired by the Witness Blanket recently hosted by Capilano University, the Response Book aims to present text and images, which will collectively present a "patchwork" exploring shared experiences as well as the potentials of collectively responding to the Indian Residential School System (IRSS) and its continuing legacy.
Exploring the important and painful influence of the IRSS historically and in the present, the Response Book will explore questions such as: what are the effects of colonial structures on society today? How does the IRSS hold an influence in a subtle manner? Did PM Stephen Harper's 2008 apology for IRSS change anything?
The Response Book will be the culmination of the Response program, a series of talks and workshops in 2014-2015 organised by First Nations Student Services at Capilano University and the Presentation House Gallery, both in North Vancouver.
Please send in up to three print-ready photographic images, and/or a text of up to 1000 words. These should relate, directly or indirectly, to the Indian Residential School System and its legacy.
Texts can take the form of an account of related experiences, speculations on past and future events, opinion pieces, fiction, journal entries and more. Photographic images may be edited, for instance to include text or digital manipulations.
The deadline for submissions is Wednesday 8 April 2015 (extended from Wednesday 1 April)!
Each contributor will receive a copy of the book, as well as an honorarium of $100 per selected text OR image contribution, and $150 per text AND image contribution.
An editorial committee will select submissions from the call. The publication is due to launch in June 2015.
For more information and inquiries, please email Sydney Hart, Education Coordinator at Presentation House Gallery at s.hart@presentationhousegallery.org
Want to contribute images?
You can send up to three photographic images that relate, directly or indirectly, to the Indian Residential School System and its legacy. Photographic images may be edited, for instance to include text or digital manipulations. Please send digital JPEG files (preferably high resolution, at least 300 dpi), along with your full name, title(s), year(s) and an optional text about your work, to s.hart@presentationhousegallery.org
Want to contribute writing?
You can send texts of up to 1000 words that relate, directly or indirectly, to the Indian Residential School System and its legacy. Texts can take the form of an account of related experiences, speculations on past and future events, opinion pieces, fiction, journal entries and more. Texts should be sent to s.hart@presentationhousegallery.org
N.B.
Only individuals of Indigenous descent (status, non-status, Métis or Inuit) over 18 currently living in the Lower Mainland, BC are invited to contribute.
Participants can send both photographic images and texts, and these can form part of a single project. For instance, participants can send photographs of an area described in a short story, or contribute a piece of writing giving context or narrative to a photograph.
By submitting work for the Response Book: Weaving Histories, participants agree that the editorial team may reproduce their images or writing in the Response Book as well as in promotional material.
The Response Book: Weaving Histories, is a project inspired by the Witness Blanket, hosted at Capilano University in 2014. This multi-media artwork by master carver Carey Newman "stands in witness" to the effects of the Indian Residential school system. It displays over 800 artifacts and images attached to the schools, with documents from different levels of government, the church, photos of students, etc. Since it opened at Capilano on October 10th (starting its third stop on a Canada-wide tour), the Blanket has been a potent way to incite conversation on campus about the legacy of the IRSS, and the potential of allying different media and processes in art.
Image credits: I'm Still Here publication, by Amiel Gonzales, made in Cathy Busby and Garry Neill Kennedy's Printed Matter course at UBC, 2013; photo by George Lawson. Both Busby and Lawson were guest artists for the Response program.