White Shame ReWorked, video documentation
Âhasiw Maskêgon-Iskwêw, Adrian Stimson
April 21, 2012
Creative Access Description
Colour digital video of a solo performance set in a gallery space. On the wall a projection reads 'White Shame-ReWorked' in white sans serif lettering over red light. A wooden teepee frame structure is set up with seven eagle feathers hanging from below where the poles meet. The performer, a burly Siksika Blackfoot man with short black hair wearing blue jeans and a brown t shirt enters. As he stands preparing himself, a recording of intense Cree singing and drumming plays and the projection changes to read 'Ahasiw Maskegon-Iskwew Donald Ghostkeeper' and then projects a series of archival images of the original performance being re-worked.As the recording finishes, the man removes his pants and t shirt and wraps a thick brown wool blanket tightly around his waist. He kneels and the camera pans down to show a series of performance objects on the floor. The man burns a bit of sage in a shell before blowing out the flame and smudging with an eagle feather. An assistant dressed in blue jeans and a checked shirt sits on his knees to the side and upon the man's prompt he too smudges before taking the feather and the shell and walking out of the frame. The performer invites the audience to smudge if they wish. He then knocks a smaller rock against a larger rock several times and grinds a piece of charcoal against the rock, mixing in red clay and water from a nearby bowl. He rubs the mixture on his arms, torso, and face, slicking it through his hair until he is covered in the red pigment. He kneels in the red light under the teepee frame, washing his hands and wiping his upper chest clean with wet washcloths. Behind him the projection slowly cycles through a number of other words including 'Suicide', 'Residential Schools', 'Apology', and more.
The man steadies himself, and carefully and repeatedly pierces through the flesh of his own chest with a hollow needle, cleaning himself with alcohol as he goes and pulling short lengths of filament through each hole, tying them off so the string hangs from his wounds, which slowly bleed down his chest. The camera zooms in to focus on this action. He works silently and methodically, cleaning his blood with a white cloth, before standing and looking to each of the four directions in turn. He removes one eagle feather at a time from the teepee structure and ties it to his chest. When finished he stands with his eyes closed, arms outstretched near his hips, breathing in a moment of intensity. The occasional shutter of a camera in the room is the only audible sound.
After a moment he says 'Start' and then moves out from under the teepee structure. The house lights turn up making his entire body, feathers, and wounds visible. He asks 'Who will work?' four times toward the audience and as he finishes the projection switches to a profile image of the performance's original artist, Ahasiw Maskegon-Iskwew wearing glasses and a cowboy hat. Patsy Cline's I Fall to Pieces begins to play, the man stares out at the audience, nods his head and exits the stage. The camera pans back before fading to a clearer shot of the image of Ahasiw, for the duration of I Fall to Pieces.
Sister Sledge's We Are Family plays and the audience slowly begins to whoop and cheers, clapping to the beat of the song and breaking into full applause. The camera pans through the audience before cutting to a tightening shot of the rocks, charcoal, and clay on the floor. Final cheers, claps, and laughter is heard before a short reel of white credits on a dark backdrop roll.
Description
Adrian Stimson's White Shame ReWorked is a response to Âhasiw Maskêgon-Iskwêw's 1992 performance work White Shame. The performance was part of a series of artist talks, panel discussion, and performances that launched the exhibition Ghostkeeper.Identifier
2012.0421 GHO V001Extent
1 digital video, 00:40:44Videographer
Brian GotroPerformer
Adrian StimsonRelated program
Ghostkeeper (Related)In copyright. For uses beyond Fair Dealing, research requests, corrections, takedown requests, or other inquiries, please contact grunt gallery: archives@grunt.ca