July 28, 2012
At long last, the re-written manuscript is with Douglas & McIntyre (D & M)
By
Katherine Dodds
Wow, has it really been over a year that we've been working on this book? We were told it's a long process, and guess what - it is! Exciting though. We just got our second round of re-writes into our publisher, and now, it's really hitting us that in June of next year this book is going to be born! 
While the camping trips to Sims Creek are now over, and the area has been returned to its ancestral name Nexw-áyantsut, our greatest hope is that the process of making this book can be a way to start up a new phase of the Uts'am/Witness Project, one that concentrates on using media to encourage dialogue. We hope to upgrade this website to make it more interactive and to have a story gathering feature. We also hope to have more 'digital extensions' AKA short videos documenting the ongoing work that has been re-ignited by the book process.
Here's a tiny excerpt from the beginning of the book:
Prologue: Picturing Transformation, Nexw-áyantsut
Uts’am/Witness Stories
Once upon a moment in time immemorial, during a decade from 1997 to 2007, a particular piece of land witnessed a transformation. At first known simply as the “Witness Project,” a community formed around an “invitation to witness” during camping weekends on the sandbar at Sims Creek, deep in the northern part of Squamish Nation’s traditional territory. At the project’s conception there was an urgent feeling over contested logging practices in what was being described as British Columbia’s “war in the woods.”
As a formal project, Uts’am/Witness was co-founded by Squamish Nation Hereditary Chief Bill Williams/telàsemkin-siyam; the late mountaineer and wilderness educator John Clarke; and photographer and artist Nancy Bleck. In 1997 Witness came into being officially when Nancy became the artist-in-residence at the Roundhouse Community Centre during the summer of its inaugural year. Out of this seed, the decade-long project grew—with a few unexpected turns. As Nancy said, “It was supposed to be a feel-good art project. But it became political in its very first breath.”
The Witness project was always evolving, defying definition and a clear beginning, middle and end. More than a project, it was a journey.
For Nancy, the journey began by getting to know the land through the camera. For John, it was in sharing his infectious love and knowledge for the land with others. And for Chief Bill, it was about cultural survival. Drawn together by a passion for the land, their commitment to experiencing it, recording it and sharing its significance culturally and spiritually, the three of them collectively conceived a project that none of them could have imagined or enacted alone. As John recalled, “I met Nancy in the best possible way, around a campfire. But when we met Chief Bill, now that was the magic weekend when everything changed.” The process of coming together that emerged from the project transformed one particular battleground into a place of peace
A sandbar became a longhouse, and a sandbar, as sandbars in the wild are known to do, disappeared. What reappeared was the rich traditional history of this special place. A new space of collaboration was opened up, and the public was invited in to witness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now that this milesone has been crossed, there is still lots of work to do! Nancy is working on getting the latest final scans into D & M (and working on a new peice) and Chief Bill is working on getting a Squamish language glossary to be added to the book. And of course now we are into the fundraising stage! Read on...
If you are interested in supporting this ongoing work and the book project, the best way right now is to pre-buy the book online, or make a donation also online. If you are a foundation or someone interested in giving a larger contribution, please check out our fundraising page and get in touch.
We have just got one grant application into the Vancouver Foundation. We hope to do a crowd-funding campaign soon as well.
If you would like to help us, also get in touch!
Contact Katherine Dodds:
Kdodds [at] HelloCoolWorld [dot] com
Tag(s):
Environment,
Aboriginal,
First Nations,
Uts'am Witness,
Arts and Culture
Recent Blogs by Katherine Dodds:
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