NOTE: In the event of rain, the screening will move indoors to Nat Taylor Cinema at 9 p.m. Check www.facebook.com/counterarchive for updates.
“The historic Jacob Stong Barn on York University’s Keele Campus will be transformed into an outdoor cinema space on Thursday, June 13 for a special presentation by the Department of Cinema and Media Studies’ 2019 Summer Institute Archive/Counter-Archives, which focuses on media archives and archiving practices.
Suzanne Morrissette
Spotlighting contemporary Indigenous filmmakers, the evening will feature talks by curator Suzanne Morrissette of OCAD University, and artists Lisa Myers and Fallon Simard, followed at sundown by stunning outdoor projections of short films against the walls of the historic Jacob Stong Barn.
The event is free and open to the public. The curator and artists will deliver their remarks in the Nat Taylor Cinema, N102 in the Ross Building starting at 6 p.m. The outdoor screening will begin at 9 p.m. at the Jacob Stong House and Barn.
Believed to be constructed in 1854, the Jacob Stong Barn is “a rare surviving example of an intact 19th century barn in the North York community, and one of few in the City of Toronto,” according to the City of Toronto’s heritage land public notice. The screening is the first of its kind to take place at the barn and will take place for one night only.
“This screening highlights the work of seven Indigenous artists and filmmakers who approach moving image media in various ways to depict dynamic, honest, and critical representations of Indigenous experiences today,” said Morrissette.
The program includes works by Richelle Bear Hat, Thirza Cuthand, Louis-Philippe Moar, Caroline Monnet, Lisa Myers, Jessie Short, and Fallon Simard:
- In Her Care (directed by Richelle Bear Hat), 10 minutes
- Reclamation (directed by Thirza Cuthand), 13 minutes
- Kick It Now (directed by Louis-Philippe Moar), 3 minutes
- Portrait of an Indigenous Woman (directed by Caroline Monnet), 16 minutes
- And from then on we lived on blueberries for about a week (directed by Lisa Myers), 7 minutes
- Wake Up! (directed by Jessie Short), 6 minutes
- Land Becomes Ghost (directed by Fallon Simard), 1 minute
An alumna of York University, Morrissette is a Métis artist, curator, and scholar from Winnipeg. Her research draws upon histories of place to examine, on the one hand, western society’s ongoing investments in capitalist and colonial narratives, as well as personal knowledge and lived experience. Morrissette holds a PhD in Social and Political Thought from York University. Her visual art research has been included in such recent exhibitions as wnoondwaamin (we hear them) (2016-18). Her most recent curatorial project, On Being Illiberal looks to the work of three artists – Carl Beam, Merritt Johnson, and Fallon Simard – who each provide vantage points that problematize public perception of Indigenous political thought. Morrissette has received numerous grants from provincial and national arts councils to support her artistic and curatorial practices. She has taught liberal arts and studio courses at various universities since 2011 and currently works as an assistant professor at OCAD University.
This is the closing event for the Department of Cinema and Media Studies’ 2019 Summer Institute Archive/Counter-Archives, focusing on media archives and archiving practices and convened by Professors Philip Hoffman, Janine Marchessault and Michael Zryd. It is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Partnership Project Archive/Counter-Archive, the Office of the Vice President Research & Innovation’s Funding for Scholarly Events and Outreach Activities, the Office of the Vice President Academic & Provost’s Indigeneity in Teaching and Learning Fund, the School of Arts, Music, Performance, & Design, the Faculty of Graduate Studies, and Sensorium: Centre for Digital Arts & Technology.
Archive/Counter-Archive is led by Marchessault, dedicated to researching and remediating audiovisual archives created by women, Indigenous Peoples, the LGBTQ2+ community and immigrant communities. The partnership is composed of four universities (York, Ryerson, Queen’s, and Concordia), numerous communities, memory institutions, and policy advocates. Political, resistant, and community-based, counter-archives disrupt conventional narratives and enrich our histories. To learn more, visit the www.counterarchive.ca website.