Latest news with #Kwakwaka'wakw
CTV News
12 hours ago
- CTV News
Calls for improved security after totem pole stolen from former Tamaracouta Scout Reserve
A totem pole, carved by a Chief Mungo Martin of the Kwakwaka'wakw First Nation in B.C. more than 70 years ago, was recently stolen.
Montreal Gazette
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Montreal Gazette
Dunlevy: Montreal documentary hunts for stolen indigenous masks that inspired surrealists
The repatriation and restitution of art and cultural materials is a hot topic these days. A prime example is estates trying to reclaim objects taken by the Nazis or sold by Jews under duress as they fled Germany. But there's another example closer to home. Montrealer Joanna Robertson and Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond's absorbing new documentary So Surreal: Behind the Masks explores what happened to Yup'ik and Kwakwaka'wakw ceremonial masks taken from these indigenous tribes in Alaska and British Columbia's northwest coast more than a century ago by traders, government officials and collectors. The masks were brought as far as New York, where they inspired some of the great European surrealist artists, who were living in exile mid-century, and eventually made their way to auction houses, world-famous museums and private collections. Leading us on an investigative journey to learn the significance of these masks, the circumstances of their removal and where they ended up is Diamond. He appears on camera throughout the film as an unassuming, intrepid protagonist, pushing the narrative forward with playful determination. He has done the same in his other films, including 2009's Reel Injun, which examined the problematic portrayals of Native Americans in Hollywood westerns, earning him and co-directors Catherine Bainbridge and Jeremiah Hayes three Gemini Awards and a Peabody Award. 'I've gotten quite comfortable (on screen),' Diamond said recently, over coffee with Robertson at Outremont's Croissanterie Le Figaro. 'Sometimes I forget the camera's rolling and I just act real goofy.' 'I think people appreciate it,' Robertson said. 'You bring a lot of humour to these (potentially) doom and gloom situations.' One amazing shot in the documentary shows Diamond puffing on a cigarette as he rides a bicycle down the middle of the road in the bustling Champs Élysées, with the Eiffel Tower behind him, and ponders his next move. Inspired by their subjects, the filmmakers take a surrealist approach to the storytelling as they weave together disparate clues and different ways of seeing the situation. On the one hand are Yup'ik tribe members who are happy to see their masks being preserved and showcased under the same roof as the Mona Lisa: One magical moment finds Yup'ik artist and storyteller Chuna McIntyre singing and dancing joyously as he approaches one of his tribe's masks on display at the Louvre, during an after-hours visit. On the other are members the Kwakwaka'wakw and their allies, who are in a continuing fight to see their masks — including many stolen during Canada's Potlach ban in 1921 — come home. At the heart of the intrigue is a quest to locate a mystical Raven Transformation Mask and possibly converse with its current owner about its eventual return. Somewhere in the middle are the wild surrealists — Max Ernst, André Breton, Roberto Matta, Enrico Donati and Joan Miró — and their friends, including famed French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, who were endlessly stimulated by the otherworldly dreamscapes evoked by these masks. The extent to which they were aware of how these artifacts were obtained is unclear. 'I'm grateful we're able to shine a light on these stories, which are so fundamental to our understanding of who we are — of colonization and also the importance of Indigenous storytelling and culture,' Robertson said. 'The surrealists saw something — they lived through war after war after war — and they saw something in these masks, however problematic, as a reminder there's another way of being, and of seeing the world.' She expressed hope their film can foster empathy toward indigenous communities and all that they have lost. 'Yeah,' Diamond agreed, 'because if you lose your culture, you have nothing else.'
The Age
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Think you know First Nations music? This block party will blow your mind
Soju Gang was probably always destined to become a DJ. 'When it comes to blackfellas, we grew up listening to everything. We grew up to blues, Motown jazz, but then heavy metal, rock, rap, hip-hop. Some people like folk music, some people get into more electronic music as well.' But, she says, music by First Nations artists is often 'pigeonholed into either a very specific rock sound or hip-hop R&B'. Soju Gang – real name Sky Thomas – hopes to shift that perspective. She's producing the Uncle Archie Roach Block Party at this year's YIRRAMBOI festival of First Nations artists. The block party will take place on May 10 across three CBD venues and feature more than 30 musicians and DJs, with acts ranging from neo-soul punk (DANCINGWATER) and glittery indie pop (Jem Cassar-Daley) to bad girl rapper Miss Kaninna. Then there are the international artists such as Kwakwaka'wakw/Cree vocalist Nimkish and her trashy bedroom pop, Canadian duo PIQSIQ, whose elaborate live looping of Inuit throat singing defies written description, and up-and-coming Kiwi DJ sensations Katayanagi Twins. Thomas travelled to last year's International Indigenous Music Summit in Toronto as part of the YIRRAMBOI team. 'We were there to showcase who we are and what we do, but it was also a way for me to properly interact with other First Nations artists across the waters.' It was a chance to learn more about the practices of other artists and see them perform, she says, but just as important were the stories behind the music. 'It's not just like, 'Oh, I like their sound, that's it.' It's about who people are and what they offer. When it comes to First Nations people globally, we are not a monolith. Everybody has their own specific story to tell.'
Sydney Morning Herald
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Think you know First Nations music? This block party will blow your mind
Soju Gang was probably always destined to become a DJ. 'When it comes to blackfellas, we grew up listening to everything. We grew up to blues, Motown jazz, but then heavy metal, rock, rap, hip-hop. Some people like folk music, some people get into more electronic music as well.' But, she says, music by First Nations artists is often 'pigeonholed into either a very specific rock sound or hip-hop R&B'. Soju Gang – real name Sky Thomas – hopes to shift that perspective. She's producing the Uncle Archie Roach Block Party at this year's YIRRAMBOI festival of First Nations artists. The block party will take place on May 10 across three CBD venues and feature more than 30 musicians and DJs, with acts ranging from neo-soul punk (DANCINGWATER) and glittery indie pop (Jem Cassar-Daley) to bad girl rapper Miss Kaninna. Then there are the international artists such as Kwakwaka'wakw/Cree vocalist Nimkish and her trashy bedroom pop, Canadian duo PIQSIQ, whose elaborate live looping of Inuit throat singing defies written description, and up-and-coming Kiwi DJ sensations Katayanagi Twins. Thomas travelled to last year's International Indigenous Music Summit in Toronto as part of the YIRRAMBOI team. 'We were there to showcase who we are and what we do, but it was also a way for me to properly interact with other First Nations artists across the waters.' It was a chance to learn more about the practices of other artists and see them perform, she says, but just as important were the stories behind the music. 'It's not just like, 'Oh, I like their sound, that's it.' It's about who people are and what they offer. When it comes to First Nations people globally, we are not a monolith. Everybody has their own specific story to tell.'
