Ogimaa Mikana
Representing The Ogimaa Mikana Project, Susan Blight (Anishinaabe,
Couchiching) and Hayden King (Anishinaabe, Gchi'mnissing)
Never Stuck
2018
Vinyl banner
Collection of the Artists
Produced as a part of Soundings: An Exhibition in Five Parts, on view at the Kamloops Art Gallery April 24 to July 3, 2021.
Never Stuck
2018
Vinyl transfer, artist booklet
Collection of the Artists
PART ONE
A score is displayed.
On Facebook recently, Niizhoosake Sherry Copenace (Anishinaabe, Onigaming) wrote, “As Anishinaabe we have been given our way of life to solve and get thru any situation. Anishinaabe is not ever stuck.” These profoundly philosophical words articulate Anishinaabeg resistance and adaptation. They convey a confidence that our language and epistemologies have sustained us before, during, and long after colonization.
For this presentation at the Kamloops Art Gallery, the first statement is in Anishinaabemowin, the language of the artist-guest, and the second is in Secwepemctsín, the language of our hosts, the T'K̓emlúps te Secwépemc, whose home territory is here in Secwepemcúl̓ecw.
Ogimaa Mikana is an artist collective founded by Susan Blight (Anishinaabe, Couchiching) and Hayden King (Anishinaabe, Gchi’mnissing) in January 2013. Through public art, site-specific intervention and social practice, they assert Anishinaabe self-determination on the land and in the public sphere, as an effort to transform a landscape that often obscures or makes invisible the presence of Indigenous peoples.
Resources for Further Research
Additional information and writings about Ogimaa Mikana, compiled by the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery team.
Read Hayden King’s articles published in Yellowhead Institute.
Listen to Susan Blight talks about the Ogimaa Mikana project
Suggested Further Reading
King, Hayden, and Shiri Pasternak. Canada’s Emerging Indigenous Rights Framework: A Critical Analysis. Toronto: Yellowhead Institute. June 2018. https://www.deslibris.ca/ID/10097309
“Hayden King and Susan Blight Part of Ogimaa Mikana Project with Billboards in Parkdale.” The Parkdale Villager, Mar 29, 2016.
Ogimaa Mikana, Never Stuck, 2018, vinyl transfer, artist booklet. Collection of the artists. Installed at the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, University of British Columbia. Photo: Rachel Topham Photography.
