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CHAPTER 1
The Perception Series: KC Adams, and the Value of Socially Engaged Art
Art is a catalyst for social change, and Winnipeg-based artist KC Adams (Oji-Cree) is a social-change agent. Her work addresses racism toward Indigenous peoples, engagement with the land and ceremony, the association between nature and technology, and the benefits of community and kin. With ceramics, photography, beadwork, collaborative performance, and installation, she holds up a mirror to society, and provides opportunities for viewers to participate, reflect, and strategize to make personal and collective change. Adam's photo-based series Perception challenges racist stereotypes and remedies the aftershocks of historical colonization and its continuous and present hold on contemporary Canadian society. The series relies on willing participants and an invested audience, and is best described as socially engaged art.
Although all art invites social interaction, socially engaged art depends on the involvement of others. Historically, it occurred in art galleries, where artists made artworks which were participatory and appealing, like convening visitors to share food or personal narratives in exhibition spaces. This blurred the lines between artist and audience, and broadened understandings of what constitutes art. Physical art objects or video recordings became the residuals or documentation of the process-based artwork instead of the main component.
Socially engaged art now often happens outside of gallery spaces, and artists are driven to not only challenge understandings of art, but also to make social change. They address concerns like gender inequality, poverty, or the effects of colonial oppression. They collaborate with the public to paint murals on buildings, make posters for distribution, organize pop-up exhibitions in storefronts, and create performance works at community gatherings. They activate conversations that promote self-reflection or cross-cultural education and respond to the current issues of their time. For Indigenous artists, socially engaged art is more than a yearning to make right in society; it is also about their own relationships to the land, and a way to personally and collectively heal from the negative impact of colonization. It requires making art in a good way, grounded in culture, community and kinship ties.
KC Adams began the Perception series after the Idle No More movement had greatly increased conversations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, with teach-ins, flash mobs, and a strong social-media presence. Around the same time, the body of 15-year-old murdered Tina Fontaine and that of 50-yearold Faron Hall, a homeless man known for saving two drowning people, were found in the Red River. These deaths, combined with a racist rant by a mayoral candidate's wife circulated on social media, were stark reminders of the disparaging impact injustice, faulty government systems, and racism has on Indigenous lives.
There were also inspiring socially engaged art projects initiated by other Indigenous artists that addressed the high number of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) in Canada. Walking With Our Sisters (2012-18) was conceived by Christi Belcourt (Métis), and was a travelling commemorative art project that featured over 1800 pairs of moccasin vamps (also called "uppers" or "tops") created and donated by hundreds of caring and concerned individuals to draw attention to the 1,181 + women and girls who have been murdered or gone missing across Canada since 1 980. The adorned vamps are intentionally not sewn into moccasins, to represent those whose lives were cut short when they were taken from us. One hundred eight of the vamps were also created to honour the children whose lives were lost in the Canadian residential-school system.
Métis artist Jaime Black launched the REDress Project in 2011. She put out a public call for the donation of red dresses, which she installed in public venues as quiet, solemn interventions. Collectively installed, the dresses are both reminders of the physical loss of MMIW, and vessels for the spirits of the women.
Both collaborative art projects were visual reminders and catalysts for gatherings and workshops that offered opportunities for individual and collective social change. They kept the plight of MMIW in the public realm with art and helped create a foundation for Adams to initiate Perception.
Adams became motivated to create art that would provide a forum for dialogue about racism and racial stereotypes. Although seemingly innocent and unharmful, stereotypes leave negative, long-lasting impressions. They become the defining image for that which they come to represent, for example the stoic warrior, Indian Princess, street person – or gang member descriptor is prioritized over realistic portrayals or understandings of Indigenous people. This makes for toxic interactions between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. They therefore need to be eradicated for true reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to occur. To attempt this, Adams ambitiously chose to involve the public in multiple spaces outside art galleries, igniting the Perception series on social media, and presenting it on billboards, bus shelters, posters, in print media, and in large-scale projections, (see pages 14, 17, and 19).
Adams put a public request to other Indigenous people on Facebook to make art with her to address racism. People from all walks of life volunteered to be photographed, including students, youth workers, singers, philanthropists, award-winning journalists, and community leaders. The work consisted of two side -by -side black and white portraits with text placed over the images. The participants' reactions to Adams calling them slurs were captured for the first photograph, and then their response to her encouraging them to think about positive experiences in the second. At the top of the left portrait were the racist slogans that Adams called them while taking their photograph, like "lazy squaw," "government mooch" "useless halfbreed," and "drug dealer" At the bottom of the photo were the words "look again...", meant to entice viewers to reconsider their perceptions.
Placed on the right panel at the top were personal descriptions by the participants that were revealing, humanizing, and, at times, cheeky and humorous. Common themes included family and community roles, interests and hobbies, and spiritual practices. In addition, corrections to misconceptions were provided, as participants asserted themselves as taxpayers, homeowners, and despite common belief, also having had to pay for their education. The contrasting facial expressions presented side by side, plus the assertive text, offered an opportunity to remember that first glances and opinions are often wrong, limited, or misguided.
As an Indigenous woman, Adams creates socially engaged art that requires culturally grounded and thoughtful actions. She must recognize the impact that colonization has on interpersonal experiences and relationships, and must value Indigenous knowledge, ways of being, and value systems. While photographing participants, Adams ensured that they left the experience feeling unharmed and provided them an opportunity to be presented in a genuine light, on their own terms. As she was asking that they make themselves vulnerable, she did the same, and included herself in the series as a way to connect with participants. In return, she was provided with new understandings of her Indigenous community and an opportunity for her own self-realization and empowerment.
According to art scholar Grant Kester, socially engaged, dialogical artworks can "challenge dominant representations of a given community, and create a more complex understanding of, and empathy for, that community among a broader public". The Perception series did just that. Adam's call to participate in the Perception series was a request to help diminish the power of racist stereotypes and find common ground for all. The work instigated dialogue and debate, introspection, and resolution. It created solidarity for Indigenous audiences and participants, as it is familiar and relatable: the slurs have caused harm for many, the faces and expressions of participants resemble loved ones, and the personal descriptions instill pride for one another. Working in a collaboratively, culturally grounded way, Adams reminds us that it is important that we all "look again" before making up our minds.
Cathy Mattes is a Michif curator, writer, and art history professor at Brandon niversity, who is based in Sprucewoods Manitoba.
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Excerpted from "Perception"
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Copyright © 2019 KC Adams.
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