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]
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Terrance |
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Clear Chat History |
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Travishey Terrance, you got ten minutes for an interview? Terrancehey Travis I do have 15 minutes
Travishey now what’s been happening since the last time we spoke? that was about four months ago now, im ashamed to say
Terrancemm 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
Traviswhat new ideas are you working on?
Terrancewell I have a video series I am working on right now that Involves Video Portraits of
ALL FOR YOU: Fall Cycle (still)
Traviswhat ages?
Terrancethe 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
Travisso… not much going on then…
Terrancehahaha no not really
Travisha! tell me about leg wrestling and this upcoming exhibition both sound pretty exciting
TerranceThe 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
Travisthat sounds incredible we’ve got to get you over to Liverpool
Terranceyea man its pretty amazing stuff ive been basing them off old wrestlers like
TravisI was wanting to write a piece on your previous exploits, anything your particularly proud of?
Terrancemmm 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
Travisoh man how accurate is the recreation? is it like sitting back in her room for you?
Terrancemm 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
TravisI always got the impression that you liked to use a lot humor in your work, but that piece sounds pretty far removed from that
TerranceI 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
Traviswhat did you give talks on?
Terrancebasically about the last 5 years of my work about humor and how it impacted my earlier works
Travisis it retrospective time already?
Terrancehahah yea
Travisman o man
Terrancethe show is a mini retro of the last 5 years of work since i graduated about 70 works in the show
Travisthat’s… a lot you cover installation, photography, video, performance… audio…
Pray for me Terrance Houle
Terrancelol i know shit I didn’t even realize yea audio and music soundtrack
Travishaha, nice. you’re in the groove
TerranceI 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
Travisis 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?
Terrancewell 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
Travisdo you think it would be fair for anyone other than a First National to tackle the issue?
Terrancelike are we as first nations falling into the perception people have of us I think it would be fair if they did first nations not first national….sorry just a correction lol
Travissorry about that
Terranceno 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
Traviseven though that identity is not accurate to them as a people? why would they do that?
Terrancethey must be in an identity crisis themselves
Travishaha
Terrancethe sympathy for the noble savage the pure man freedom
Traviswhat do you think about spaghetti westerns?
Terranceoh 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
Travisits such a strange concept
Terranceyea 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
Travisha! that seems utterly pointless and wasteful… to have someone on set who is actually living the role others are pretending to be
TerranceI 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
TravisI’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
Terrancehahah awesome no problem Indian Humor
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http://www.plugin.org/exhibits/39
http://www.youtube.com/user/terrancehoule
