July 07, 2011
Working on the Picturing Transformation Trailer
By Katherine Dodds
David and I are excited to be working with Nancy & Chief Bill, editing the trailer for the book that will be coming out in 2013. Early this year we brought together many of the key founding members of the project and video taped interviews with them. David's logged all those interviews and we are excited to be finally working with this material as Nancy is scanning the photos that will be the main content of this book.
There is a lot more work to come but it feels like this project is really getting rolling, and it is exciting! We came up with a working title: Picturing Transformation, nexw7ayentsut.
As Nancy puts it: ‘Picturing Transformation’ speaks to the change that was inspired from working together with a First Nations community on their own northern territory over a ten year time span, as well as acknowledging the land itself: nexw7ayentsut in Coast Salish language literally means ‘place of transformation’.
She reflects on the bigger picture of the overall project: "Uts’am was about a generosity of sharing and giving - of gifting, whether it’s knowledge or personal wealth, it’s the act of giving away that became such an important part of the Witness project. In hindsight, Witness was such a simple concept. It was essentially bringing people to the land, to sit around a campfire, have ceremony with each other and have dialogue. It brought together people from all different walks of life – artists, activists, feminists, loggers, Aboriginal people, settlers. I think this is what made Uts’am/Witness so special. The fact that a space was allowed for people regardless of background, beliefs, etc. to come together and talk to each other and learn from each other."
Tag(s): Uts'am Witness, Video, Aboriginal, Arts and Culture
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Katherine Dodds AKA "Kat" is the founder of Good Company Communications and HelloCoolWorld.com. Trained in renegade advertising & branding through her work with Adbusters in the '90s, Kat's early induction into the possibilities of the web-world was inspired by the term hypertext, which she immediately found comforting. She is dedicated to cause-related communication and to the development and use of tools that promote democratic processes.
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Being called to “witness” in the Coast Salish tradition is a sacred honour.
Bearing witness by a “hired” Speaker carries responsibilities and duty.
As a witness, they are to listen and watch the “work” that is going to take place.
They are to carry the message back to their home community.
If, in the future, or at any time in their life, there is a concern over what took place,
they, as witnesses,
have to recall what they have heard and seen with regard to the event.
—from the Squamish Nation Assertion of Aboriginal Title
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