search>song

2018, HD video, 2:55

Featuring music by Charlotte Henry

Search Song is a spin-off of a larger video essay and archival project. The research took place over many years, roughly from 2002-2010. This project looks at the land, history, people, and culture in Southwestern Ontario where I grew up. The project explored the interconnectedness of narratives, places, histories, people. . . as search for relations that have been elided or erased. After attending the Ipperwash Inquiry into the murder of Dudley George, a history of the region from an Indigenous perspective became clear. Search Song speaks to a legacy of colonial and environmental toxins that have been left in the land. The communities of Kettle and Stony Point First Nations shared their knowledge of history, plants, and cultural connections. Charlotte Henry, a young musician, from Kettle Point First Nation created a musical response to the environmental legacy that we have inherited, which is part of the work.

In 2018, I revisited and re-edited that section of the work into a new, separate piece, as a recognition that nothing has changed. In the 10 years since that piece was recorded with Charlotte there is even more urgency towards the underlying environmental issues.