Flame On
The totemic figure here is a black and white photographic image recorded by Bill Mclennon, Photographer at UBC Museum of Archaeology. The totem had fallen, and was lying on the ground. The photo depicted the totem in its natural condition of degradation by age.
In this Image,'Flame on', I have repositioned the photographic image to display the totem in an upright position, and present the original photographic framing of the totemic figure at an unnatural angle. This brings the viewer closer to the time of origin of this particular totem. It brings us to an iconic representation of the Indigenous Culture of the West Coast of what is now Canada. The culture that had evolved over thousands of years. The culture that is essentially an extension of the homelands of the Indigenous People of this region. The culture that included the political, spiritual, social and physical essence of West Coast Indigenous Peoples. Contrary to the objectives and efforts of Historic Canadian Government initiatives, we have not vanished into the forests of time. At present, we strive to right the river of wrongs that have deposited our people into a state of disrepair.
The flames in this image represent the many forms of trespass that have been directed upon and against the humanity of The Indigenous Peoples of the North West Coast. These trespasses have in fact, been propagated against the entire Indigenous Community of Canada. They are degradations that have been brought against us throughout the time of the occupation of our Homelands.
These degradations continue to be brought to bear against the Indigenous Peoples of Canada, by the Federal Government and other institutions of this land. Where the Federal Government is not directly involved in such activities of degradation, it is indirectly involved in them by remaining silent and unmoving in terms of correcting such wrongs, as they have occurred historically, and as they continue to occur. There has been some fleeting attention paid to these issues, but many of these apparent efforts amount to gloss.
It is difficult for many Indigenous People to bring forward in calm fashion, the words necessary, to provide an accurate description, of the human impact, of these historic and on-going
incidences of subjection and persecution. The difficulty lays in large part, in the struggle to refrain from resorting to an outright and seething violence, in response to these wrongs.
The potential for a contemporary violent reaction to these wrongs, is indeed, not only very real, it does in fact occur on an on-going basis. To comprehend the nature of this violence, one need only recall, that reports have been made by reputable researchers; reports that have emphatically stated such fact as, seventy five percent of the inmate population within the penal system of Canada, is made up by Indigenous people. This is a point that becomes a stark social statement, as well as a condemnation of the worth of Canadian Social Conscience, when one considers that the portion of the population of Canada that is occupied by Indigenous people, stands at approximately one point five percent. What this tells us, is that the amount of violence propagated by Indigenous individuals, and that comes to the attention of the courts, is at least fifty times the level of violence occurring in the non-Indigenous general population of Canada. This does not take into account, the violence that does not end with conviction. Such a consideration would swell the picture of violence to a greater and still more incredible scope.
This violence that continues to manifest among Indigenous Peoples, may be interpreted as a ineffective, introverted response to the intent, and the impact, of the social injustices that have been, and that continue to be, directed toward, and brought to bear, upon the Indigenous Peoples of this land. This violence may be interpreted as a misdirected, or an inappropriate response to, and struggle against, the social injustices that Indigenous Peoples of Canada have lived through, suffered and died through. It is nevertheless, a segment of the response that has taken shape, and developed, and that continues to develop, within the state of a severely subjected and oppressed Canadian Indigenous Society. This is a society that continues to suffer through social injustices at every level across this land. They are injustices against which we now strive to find our footing, and to stand above, and to move beyond.
Greg Robinson, March 27, 2010
