Invasion Day – Foreshore Session 2020
Other Sights in collaboration with the Blue Cabin present Invasion Day, a Foreshore Session.
Featuring performances by Christie Lee Charles, Senaqwila Wyss, and Jeneen Frei Njootli.
January 25th, 4pm-5:30pm at the Blue Cabin (Aquabus Ferry Dock at Plaza of Nations, 750 Pacific Boulevard, Vancouver) Accessibility: Info can be found at: https://thebluecabin.ca/faq/ or email sunshine@othersights.ca
Invasion Day: Foreshore Session is the first of a multi-part 2020 Foreshore Series in which Other Sights will extend the conversation of The Future is Floating: an on the water artist exchange happening in Sydney Australia from January 13th – January 26th.
In an act of solidarity with Indigenous people and artists in Australia, the artists performing on January 25th (January 26th in Australia) will present songs and poems of our two continents for the land and water of False Creek. All will be performed outside on the lower deck of the floating residency platform at the Blue Cabin. The sound will project out over the water and across the creek. The sounds and songs recorded from these performances will be rebroadcast at sunrise for a period of seven days in honour of seven future generations. (Jan 25, 28 & 30, Feb 1, 4, 7, 10 & 13)
January 26th is Australia Day, meant to celebrate both Australia and the landing of Captain Cook, however many Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people know it as Invasion Day, the beginning of colonialism in Australia. Bringing together two harbours across the Pacific – False Creek in Vancouver and Sydney Harbour – this project is rooted in a desire to explore and confront the complex legacies of colonial presence through the lens of artistic practice.
Special thanks to Kamala Todd for working with Other Sights on the planning of this Foreshore Session with Jen Weih.
Australian Bushfires
The artists and Other Sights would like to extend an invitation for donations to wildfire relief in Australia. The ongoing tragedies across the country prompt reflection on the relationship between colonialism, capitalism, environmental degradation, and global warming.
Other Sights and several participating Foreshore artists have been working with many peers, collaborators and relations in Australia. Our organization’s relationship with Australia has been ongoing over the past four years as we developed The Future is Floating, a project which is currently underway in Sydney. The Invasion Foreshore Session is an opportunity to not only stand in solidarity with Indigenous people but to also support wildfire relief for local Indigenous communities in need. Special merchandise will be available for purchase and refreshments will be served in the Blue Cabin where visitors can warm up between sets. All proceeds from sales will go to the following organisations:
Fire Relief Fund for First Nations Communities https://www.gofundme.com/f/fire-relief-fund-for-first-nations-communities
First Nations Fire Knowledge Land Lore https://ca.gofundme.com/f/first-nations-fire-knowledge-land-lore
Related Programs:
Partner Organizations:
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS
Senaqwila Wyss is Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation), Tsimshian, Sto:lo, Hawaiian and Swiss. She holds a Bachelors of the Arts Degree in the faculty of Communications, Arts and Technology, minor in First Nations Studies. She also holds a First Nations Languages Proficiency Certificate in the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Sníchim. She is raising her 3 year old daughter to be a first language speaker, which has not been done in her family four generations after colonial impacts. She practices ethnobotany with traditionally trained mom Cease Wyss with indigenous plant medicines. She was raised learning these ancestral teachings and uses plants as teas, medicines, tinctures and ceremony.
Jeneen Frei Njootli is a 2SQ Vuntut Gwitchin artist who was raised by her lesbian moms outside of the Yukon. In her award-winning interdisciplinary practice, she uses media such as performance, sound, textiles, collaboration, workshops and feral scholarship. Frei Njootli holds an MFA from the University of British Columbia, a BFA from Emily Carr University and has been living and working as an uninvited guest on unceded Musqueam, Squamish, Sto:lo and Tsleil-Waututh territories for 14 years.
Christie lee Charles is a singer from Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh nations who raps in her Indigenous Musqueam dialect.