Srimoyee Mitra - Speaking My Truth

Animose 2; Greg Staats,Animose, 1996–ongoingthe sitter’s pride in his cultural heritage in the slightly raised bridge ofhis nose in the profile photograph and the clarity of his direct gaze in thefrontal portrait. By placing the recent photograph of the hawk in the centre,Thomas’s triptych can be read to symbolize the importance and necessityof Indigenous knowledge systems to sustain our degraded environmenttoday. Medicine Crow also symbolizes the continuity of the various streamsof Indigenous knowledge that are part of our everyday lives and constituteour contemporary culture. By projecting Kazimi’s film in the same room,directly across from Thomas’s 16-foot-long photographic print in the gallery, Iwished to address the ongoing importance of their cross-cultural dialogue incontemporary visual art discourse today.A different form of dialogue occurs in Afshin Matlabi’s drawing Natives,where the artist explores, from an immigrant perspective, the absenceof Indigenous knowledge and subjectivities in dominant cultural history.Approaching these gaps through the lens of (mis-)representing Indigenousand immigrant people in popular culture, Matlabi portrays two figuresholding specific gestures that draw the viewer’s attention into the work. Thefigure on the right-hand side of the drawing is shown with one arm aboveher head holding a pose from the Indian classical dance, Bharatanatyam,where stylized hand gestures or mudras constitute an integral part of thedance vocabulary. By portraying the figure without her traditional costume,Matlabi resists the viewer’s easy categorization and simplistic conclusionsabout the dancer’s cultural identity. The figure beside her holds an openhandedgesture, which can be understood as a symbol of friendship andpeace among some First Peoples. It can also be read as a universal signalto stop, perhaps alluding to the marginalization of both immigrant andIndigenous communities by the patronizing gaze of the dominant culture.The title of the work Natives also refers to the common and disparate historiesCultivating Canada | 283