Frequency, video documentation
Archer Pechawis
September 24, 1994
Creative Access Description
Colour analogue video of an outdoor performance taking place in a parking lot at night. Numerous cars and audience members are gathered around a large white convertible with the top down. A Mistawasis Cree man with long curly hair tied back and wearing black jeans and a black t shirt with a white logo climbs into the back seat of the convertible. He addresses the audience asking for them to turn off their motors and imagine that they are sitting in their cars listening to the radio. He explains that the performance will not be delivered as a local radio broadcast as planned due to technical issues, inviting the audience to listen to his reading while jokingly bemoaning the ruination of the contextual dynamic of his performance. Reading aloud from a script he introduces the performance as a late night underground Indigenous radio broadcast stumbled upon by a lone listener driving across the Prairies at night. The broadcast covers a range of topics including harmful cultural and and sexual stereotypes about Indigenous people, homophobia in Indigenous communities, the supression of Two Spirit identity by the Church and Residential School System, covert and illegal CIA operations, and the genocidal history of the United States of America, including ongoing violence toward and neglect of Indigenous communities. The driver stops to pick up a young Indigenous Hitchhiker, briefly delving into the psychology of picking up hitchhikers before the hitchhiker begins to tell a story. At this point a Cree man who has been sitting silently in the back seat of the convertible vocalizes a somber Cree song. The driver is shaken by its beauty, pulls over, and rushes out of the car and roars to the sky before vomiting on the ground. Looking up, they see a coyote who speaks a simple truth to them. The broadcast and performance end and the audience applauds and cheers.Description
Video documentation of Archer Pechawis' performance Frequency.Identifier
1994.0924 FRE V001Extent
1 Hi-8 tape, 00:15:06Tape Number
94-004Language
Videographer
Mike MacDonaldArtist
Archer PechawisRelated program
PLAY (Related)In copyright. For uses outside of Fair Dealing please contact grunt gallery.