Terrance Houle

Terrance Houle is a contemporary aboriginal artist of Blackfoot and Ojibway descent whose interdisciplinary techniques call attention to the traditional cultures of his heritage in an informative, intelligent and in many instances, humorous way. A superbly talented artist in his own right, Terrance just saw the end of Givn’r, a five year retrospective at the Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art in Winnipeg, Canada which showcased over 70 of his pieces.

Landscape 1 Terrance Houle and Jarusha Brown [2007]

As there are already quite a few great articles about him, which I loathe to regurgitate here (like this one for example in Canadian Art or this one in Absolute arts), I thought a nice, informal Bookface chat would be more appropriate… which in itself would be a way to further draw out the juxtaposition of opening a dialogue with an artist whose work centers on age-old traditions, but finds it necessary to utilize the verymost modern technical devices to do so. So, without further ado, my Bookface chat with Terrance Houle.

Untitled, works from the Urban Indian Series Terrance Houle and Jarusha Brown [2006]

Terrance

Clear Chat History

Travis

18:43

hey Terrance, you got ten minutes for an interview?
____________________________________________________________________________

Terrance

18:43

hey Travis I do have 15 minutes
____________________________________________________________________________

Travis

18:43

hey now

what’s been happening since the last time we spoke?

that was about four months ago now, im ashamed to say
___________________________________________________________________________

Terrance

18:44

mm well I went to Thunder Bay for my Givn’r show and did 7 artist talks/tours

lol

just been getting back in the saddle with work starting new series’

currently have work up in fort Simpson NWT at the OPEN SKY Gallery
____________________________________________________________________________

Travis

18:46

what new ideas are you working on?
____________________________________________________________________________

Terrance

18:46

well I have a video series I am working on right now that Involves Video Portraits of
Residential school attendee’s in their favorite place or space

ALL FOR YOU: Fall Cycle (still)


____________________________________________________________________________

Travis

18:47

what ages?
____________________________________________________________________________

Terrance

18:48

the ages are from about 50+

so its a feature length video work that I am in the process of right now.

as well I am starting the national Indian Leg Wrestling League

I have an upcoming show with Rebecca Belmore at the OR Gallery in Vancouver opens end of April
____________________________________________________________________________

Travis

18:49

so… not much going on then…
____________________________________________________________________________

Terrance

18:50

hahaha

no not really
____________________________________________________________________________

Travis

18:50

ha! tell me about leg wrestling and this upcoming exhibition

both sound pretty exciting
____________________________________________________________________________

Terrance

18:51

The show with Rebecca is a two person show curated by Darrin Martin from Vancouver

The works are still kind of in Development for that show

The National Indian Leg Wrestling League is a series of Photo/performance/installation and film works based on Wrestling and Leg Wrestling

I’ve asked several First Nations Artists to create their Leg Wrestling Identity and I will be creating wrestling costumes

then do portraits of them in classic wrestling Posters of the 50s, 60s, 70s
____________________________________________________________________________

Travis

18:53

that sounds incredible

we’ve got to get you over to Liverpool
____________________________________________________________________________

Terrance

18:53

yea man its pretty amazing stuff

ive been basing them off old wrestlers like


____________________________________________________________________________

Travis

18:55

I was wanting to write a piece on your previous exploits, anything your particularly proud of?
____________________________________________________________________________

Terrance

18:55

mmm yea I created a work for my show Givn’r which is about my Father and my Kookum (Grandmother in Ojibway)

it is an installation were I recreated my Kookum’s sitting area in her house with doilies, picture of the queen and Jesus and religious articles

There is a clock radio on the table next to a rocking chair and you can hear static and then my father’s voice reciting his letters he wrote to his mother from age 13 the time he was taken away to residential school

until he retired

so basically you hear him calling out to his mother. as he never grew up with any parents because of residential school
___________________________________________________________________________

Travis

18:59

oh man

how accurate is the recreation?

is it like sitting back in her room for you?
____________________________________________________________________________

Terrance

19:00

mm pretty close that my great uncle and aunt and uncles came to see the work in Winnipeg

and they cried and told me it was like she was sitting there

yea but kind of like she was a ghost

or haunting

like you didn’t know if she ever really listened to my father

or if he knew anyone one listened or cared

but in the end its the audience who listens to his story of his life in the army and being a native alienation

sorry his feeling of alone and alienated

because of the government policy of residential school
____________________________________________________________________________

Travis

19:03

I always got the impression that you liked to use a lot humor in your work, but that piece sounds pretty far removed from that
____________________________________________________________________________

Terrance

19:03

I guess its kind of a yin yang thing

humour vs seriousness

The Givn’r show was full of all my humorous satire pictures and right in the middle of the gallery is this work

I guess what I have realized is I like to deal with emotion in my work

my life seems humorous but when I tackle my other family it seems more serious and deep

which seems to be a balance
____________________________________________________________________________

Travis

19:05

what did you give talks on?
____________________________________________________________________________

Terrance

19:06

basically about the last 5 years of my work

about humor and how it impacted my earlier works
____________________________________________________________________________

Travis

19:06

is it retrospective time already?
____________________________________________________________________________

Terrance

19:07

hahah yea
____________________________________________________________________________

Travis

19:07

man o man
____________________________________________________________________________

Terrance

19:07

the show is a mini retro of the last 5 years of work

since i graduated

about 70 works in the show
____________________________________________________________________________

Travis

19:08

that’s… a lot

you cover installation, photography, video, performance…

audio…

Pray for me Terrance Houle
[2008]


______________________________________________________________________

Terrance

19:08

lol i know shit I didn’t even realize

yea

audio and music

soundtrack
___________________________________________________________________________

Travis

19:08

haha, nice.

you’re in the groove
____________________________________________________________________________

Terrance

19:09

I kind of had my head down in my work and then the Plug in Gallery asked me to do a solo show and show my work and next thing Anthony Kiendl asked for everything

I guess I just committed to art
____________________________________________________________________________

Travis

19:11

is it just that? or is there, looking back on the last five years, a bigger overarching theme/message to all the pieces?

I know the overt subject matter, but is there an underlying position that you want to take?
____________________________________________________________________________

Terrance

19:11

well I guess it would be this kind of Identity around Contemporary First Nations perceptive

like who’s perspective is the First Nations Identity coming from

like history from a colonial view point or a first nations view point or the view point of First Nations people who have been impacted by colonialism
____________________________________________________________________________

Travis

19:13

do you think it would be fair for anyone other than a First National to tackle the issue?
____________________________________________________________________________

Terrance

19:13

like are we as first nations falling into the perception people have of us I think it would be fair if they did
their research

first nations not first national….sorry just a correction

lol
____________________________________________________________________________

Travis

19:15

sorry about that
____________________________________________________________________________

Terrance

19:15

no its ok

look at the German Indians in Eastern Europe

they have taken on the identity of the Indian or Native American

I think its hilarious


____________________________________________________________________________

Travis

19:16

even though that identity is not accurate to them as a people?

why would they do that?
____________________________________________________________________________

Terrance

19:16

they must be in an identity crisis themselves
____________________________________________________________________________

Travis

19:17

haha
____________________________________________________________________________

Terrance

19:17

the sympathy for the noble savage

the pure man

freedom
____________________________________________________________________________

Travis

19:17

what do you think about spaghetti westerns?


___________________________________________________________________________

Terrance

19:17

oh and Karl may

I love em

I think that those films of the old west created another part of First Nations identity

nations

something that is a perception

Hollywood Indians

and even till this day there are people (native Americans) that still give into that stereotype


____________________________________________________________________________

Travis

19:19

its such a strange concept
____________________________________________________________________________

Terrance

19:19

yea I know

here is a kicker in some movies

like John Wayne ones

the actors were British or African American

the directors would have real apache or Navajo people just off camera

throwing lines to the main Indian characters

but the words were all dirty and such
____________________________________________________________________________

Travis

19:21

ha!

that seems utterly pointless and wasteful… to have someone on set who is actually living the role others are pretending to be
____________________________________________________________________________

Terrance

19:19

I guess for me that would be a good explanation of my humor and what I like

exactly

that’s probably the whole concept of Native people in Canada

always having others speak for them

lol
____________________________________________________________________________

Travis

19:23

I’m glad you can find the humor in it, it makes the impact of it so much more memorable

I think Im going to end the interview on your last statement
____________________________________________________________________________

Terrance

19:24

hahah awesome

no problem

Indian Humor
____________________________________________________________________________

http://www.plugin.org/exhibits/39
http://www.youtube.com/user/terrancehoule

http://www.terrancehoule.com

Leave a Reply