Kiskisohcikew (they make things to make people remember) is a performance that explores beading as a mnemonic device for language learning. The beading is performed in concert with edited audio recordings of phone interviews with Carrie's Aunt Ivy, the last Nêhiýaw (Cree) speaker in her immediate family. The conversation, which touches on family, language and translation, is then played absent of English words while Carrie beads and practices Nêhiyawêwin (Cree language). English is purposely removed to invoke a sense of longing for the audience, drawing connections between Carrie's feeling for the Nêhiyawêwin that was stolen from her. This performance seeks to reclaim language and perform an act of resistance through making and repetition and is centered in knowledge transmission, language retention, and creative practice that will allow Carrie and future generations to learn Nêhiyawêwin.
Carrie would like to thank Cree Phrases for giving her permission to use the audio from their Nêhiyaw Kâkîsimowin (Cree Prayer) video, which can be found here.
Date: Sunday, May 3
Time: 5:00pm MDT / 8:00pm ADT
Streamed from: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Go to the home page to watch the stream and chat.
Carrie Allison is an Indigenous mixed-ancestor multidisciplinary visual artist born and raised on unceded and unsurrendered Coast Salish Territory (Vancouver, BC), with maternal roots in High Prairie, Alberta. Situated in K’jipuktuk (Halifax) since 2010, Allison’s practice responds to her maternal Cree and Métis ancestry, thinking through intergenerational cultural loss and acts of reclaiming, resilience, resistance, and activism, while also thinking through notions of stewarship, kinship and visiting. Allison’s practice is rooted in research and pedagogical discourses. She looks to Indigenous, mixed-race, antiracist, feminist and environmental theorists to critically examine the world around her. Her work seeks to reclaim, remember, recreate and celebrate her ancestry through visual discussions often utilizing beading, embroidery, handmade paper, watercolour, websites, QR codes, audio, and video.
