The project video includes a series of interviews and video journeys that depict and document the Métis community of Prince George and BC. There are various video elements from cultural workshops, historical documentation, Métis music, medicine walks, individual and group interviews of local Métis Elders on the Island Cache and the history of Métis in Prince George. These video and audio elements are interlinked with one another to form a non-linear multi-vocal narrative that allows for inclusivity and simultaneity to inform and educate audiences on local Métis history as well as generating compelling and emotive audio and visuals. The simultaneity also creates unique and intriguing juxtapositions and vignettes of content and image. This fragmentation while metaphorically represents the complexity of the contemporary Métis Diaspora it also works to create a deeper more intuitive understanding of the local community, its history and dynamics.
Fundamentally this project is an artistic exploration and experimentation with the form of documentary and its conceptualization of representation. Audience members can choose material by navigating the screens or by just watching as the video plays through the various sections of the DVD. The way in which different people will activate certain material at differing times will create intertextual inferences between the various screens.
The interactivity embedded in the video elements engages the viewer/audience in a dialogue with the video imagery and content that is beyond mere passive reaction. As the viewer/audience navigates through material, via mouse on screen, they build their own connections and construct their own narratives. Interviews can play off and inform one another or they could combine with imagery of surrounding locations and historical information giving a broader contextualization.
Video
All rights reserved, Mike Evans and Stephen Foster
[Bio c. 2009] Mike Evans (PhD McMaster 1996) taught at the University of Northern BC, the University of Alberta, and then joined UBC Okanagan. His primary research relationships are with people in the Métis community in Northern BC, the Métis Nation of BC, the Urban Aboriginal Community of the Okanagan Valley, and Tonga (in the South Pacific). Evans has been involved in several community based research initiatives, and in particular has a long-term relationship with the Prince George Métis Elders Society. Together with Elders and community leaders in Prince George he put together a number of publications including What it...
[Bio c. 2011] Stephen Foster is a video and electronic media artist of mixed Haida and European background. His work tends to deal with issues of indigenous representation in popular culture through personal narrative and documentary. He has exhibited both internationally and nationally and is a sought after lecturer and panelist on interactive documentary and Canadian contemporary indigenous art. Stephen is currently an Associate Professor in the Creative Studies Department at the University of British Columbia–Okanagan where he instructs courses dedicated to video production, digital media and visual theory. [Bio c. 2009] Stephen Foster is a video and electronic media...
Ethnographic Terminalia first exhibition was a group exhibition of installation works that showed at the Ice Box gallery (Crane Arts, Philadelphia)