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Ace participating in a five week international collaborative project with artists Olive Martin and Patrick Bernier in Nantes and La Rochelle (France) in August and September 2024.

Ace’s new collaborative project Bskaabwidmaagen (return something back to its owner) is an extension of his previous work undertaken in Canada and Switzerland addressing two key domestic and international documents: Canada’s Residential Schools’ Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s – 94 Calls to Action and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.In 2023, Ace participated in the Mobile Decolonial Do Tank(MDDT) in La Rochelle, France.

The impetus for the MDDT project dates back to 2018, when Catherine Sicot (Elegoa Cultural Productions) was invited to La Rochelle by the Centre Intermondes for a residency. La Rochelle and its neighbouring city of Nantes (amongst others like Bordeaux) carry the legacy of modern times – major ports of commerce on the Triangle Trade – with New France, and the base of plantation owners whose lineages are still a part of the contemporary economic powers and wealth.

In view of the abundant and diverse Indigenous heritage in La Rochelle museums, Indigenous and Canadian artists and curators were invited to the join the MDDT project for a 10-day residency in Centre Intermondes in January 2023. Collaborations with La Rochelle museum professionals, artists, arts organizations and the university were initiated on the understanding that Eurocentric perceptions of Indigenous identities needed to shift, and that the inventory of  traditional Heritage and knowledge needed to be made accessible to  Indigenous communities.

The repatriation of Indigenous sacred cultural property housed in museum collections in La Rochelle and Nantes, France is both complex and challenging and much work is needed to bring important institutions, key individuals, and Indigenous peoples together to begin meaningful conversations around this important issue. The proposed collaborative project Bskaabwidmaagen (return something back to its owner) and participant workshops will provide an important opportunity for institutions, artists, students, and an Indigenous artist to come together to speak to these complex issues of repatriation while working together on a collaborative artwork.

For the La Rochelle and Nantes collaborative project, Ace will be working with artists Olive Martin and Patrick Bernier as co-creators, along with the participation of museum curators/directors, arts administrators, and art and law students as contributors in the completion a new contemporary textile-based trans-Atlantic wampum belt. Wampum belts are mnemonic visual agreements or treaties utilized by both the Rotinonhsyón:nih and Anishinaabeg peoples of the Americas. The work Bskaabwidmaagen (return something back to its owner) is a contemporary mnemonic textile device to instil dialogue and heighten the awareness for international Nation States to begin to seriously address the complex issues surrounding cultural repatriation of sacred material culture from both a domestic and international perspective.

Patrick Bernier & Olive Martin who are currently based in Nantes, France, have worked collaboratively for many years and have created a diverse body of work traversing writing, performance, installation, photography and film. Throughout their longstanding career, their artistic projects and creations have touched upon colonial history, human rights, migrations, and identity. As accomplished weavers, Olive and Patrick bring integral artist agency to this collaborative textile project. The complex act of creating a textile work together addressing repatriation speaks to the entanglement of our colonial histories between France and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, and how do we as contemporary artists negotiate a shared ownership and responsibility for stewardship of a jointly created contemporary work of art. Olive and Patrick have designed a houseboat-atelier  – La Déparleuse – as visual artists-weavers in the heart of Nantes traversing the river networks.

Directly following three weeks of collaborative work, Ace will undertake a series of collaborative workshops with invited museum curators, directors, arts administrators, art and law students at Centre intermondes in La Rochelle. These working sessions will be an opportunity for round table discussions and completion of individual small scale works that will be added to the Bskaabwidmaagen (return something back to its owner) contemporary artwork.

Before returning to Canada, Ace and Sicot will be presenting on the collaborative work and MDDT, and Ace will host a collaboration project on the articles of United Nations Delcaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on September 26 -27, 2024 at the Université Paris-Nanterre (France).

FIRST NATIONS AND THE (UN)-WEAVING OF HISTORY
Jeudi 26 et vendredi 27 septembre 2024
Amphithéâtre Max Weber
Université Paris-Nanterre (France)