SAPTUAAN

Accès

À propos

Winnipeg’s main street hotels, like the Manwin, Northern, Woodbine, and Bell Hotel, have long been gathering places for Indigenous people, especially during eras when segregation and the Indian Act excluded us from other public spaces. These hotels became spaces to live, organize, meet, and survive, and they continue to hold that role today.

They have always been polarizing, where public and municipal narratives have seen them as dangerous sites of addiction and harm. In the name of public safety they have been shuttered, and continue to be, without commitment or action to build new safer culturally appropriate spaces. The Circle of Life Thunderbird House lives nearby, also shuttered and a symbol of how little is invested in Indigenous housing, harm reduction, and healing.

SAPTUAAN is a sculptural longhouse made from hotel-style signage mounted on steel poles, referencing the Cree longhouse as a place of gathering and ceremony. The signs will feature images of local medicines gathered in the North End and North Point Douglas.

Nuit Blanche takes place in the Exchange District, right next to hotels where many of our Indigenous relatives continue to live and struggle. It’s hard to reconcile the celebration of art happening steps away from people who are excluded from arts institutions in the area.

SAPTUAAN seeks to bridge that divide, drawing attention to the hotels not with judgement, but as places of story, history, and survival that deserve to be honoured.

This is our home.

Liens

• Justin Bear L'Arrivee Website justinbear.ca

Organisateur

Justin Bear L'Arrivee

Justin Bear L’Arrivee (he/him) is the Artistic Director at Urban Shaman gallery. He is of mixed Cree and Scottish ancestry from Peguis First Nation (Maternal) and a citizen of the Manitoba Métis Federation (Paternal). He’s an arts administrator, facilitator, and community worker who’s passionate about revitalizing Indigenous ways of being through arts and culture. His practice is firmly rooted in community needs, and is deeply informed both by his work within the child-welfare & disability systems and in the artist-run centre sector.

Partenaires

Culture Days Manitoba nuitblanchewinnipeg.ca