creative forces

Blog # 101…January 2020

Happy New Year!  This year has been grim so far and it’s increasingly difficult, but increasingly important, to focus on art matters so here goes - may make me feel a bit better, maybe you too.

I spotted a book called Carpe Fin recently and was reminded of a trip I made to Haida Gwaii, off the northwest coast of British Columbia, a few years ago. The title was the first of many sly references and double entendres that were scattered throughout... carpe fin literally means fine carp, but the allusion to Carpe Diem suggests Seize the End.  As I read the story I encountered other possibilities (made me wonder if there'd been hidden meaning in Archie and Superman that I devoured as a ten year old).

Carpe Fin is described as a Haida Manga, and artist/story teller Michael Nicoll Yahgulanas uses hand painted images to blend Asian manga with Haida artistic and oral traditions. Carpe, of the title (short for carpenter, get it?) arrives on a small remote island deep in the rain forest to find a failing economy. A fuel spill has destroyed food sources and a group of residents invite him to join them on a risky trip to a distant island to hunt sea lions.

Ferocious storms batter the small boat, Carpe is lost at sea and picked up by the sea lion known as Lord of the Rock who demands retribution for his role in the hunt. Some business with a fin (more allusions) and Carpe is abandoned to the sea, clothed as a sea lion, in the half life between human and animal, life and death.  The islanders arrive on a rescue mission, find Carpe  and the story ends with some hopeful ideas to change the world.  I've oversimplified this complex story as an encouragment for you to read it.                                                                     
                                                                                                                   

Haida images have a whimsical edge and seem to lend themselves to playfulness - think of Brian Jungen‘s transformation of Nikes and golf bags. And aboriginal artists have a wonderful way of making serious points with humour…Kent Monkman’s Daddies of Confederation, the plays of Drew Hayden Taylor and stories of Thomas King, to mention only a few. We need this kind of fresh and nuanced way of looking at things now more than ever.

 Louis Riel said "My people will sleep for one hundred years, but when they awake, it will be the artists who give them their spirits back." First nations artists have taken Truth and Reconciliation and run with it, quickly and positively while official committees and task forces meander along.

I’m always encouraged when I hear from people who read the blog and was almost seduced by a message that came a couple of days ago complimenting me on # 100. Had I clicked on the included link, I would have connected to a site selling drugs online… so, a reminder to NEVER click on a site without checking on Google what it is.