Downstream: Reimagining Water Exhibition

Downstream: Reimagining Water, Concourse Gallery, March 6th – 14th
Opening reception begins at 7pm, March 7th

The show features works by a wide range of artists who approach water with an equally varied perspective. The artists in Downstream explore our perceptions of watery systems and take a look at how our interactions with this substance shape and change us.

Artists:
Sheinagh Anderson
Micaela Baer
Neil Chung
Caitlyn Connors
Alyssa Dusevic
Jennifer Hagel
Maegan Harbridge
Julia Hong
Basia Irland
Maria Lantin
Nathalie Lavoie
Jennifer Martin
Caroline Mousseau
Fabiola Nabil Naguib
Alex Phillips
William Phong-Ly
Emile Rubino
David Roth
Diana Lynn Thompson
Gu Xiong

We are in perpetual collaboration with water and in this exhibition that collaboration takes on the form of play, biology, interdependence, ecology, place, spirituality as well as voyage.

We hope to see you at the opening reception.
Jeneen Frei Njootli
Curatorial Coordinator
&
Rita Wong
Project Coordinator

For more information on the Downstream Research Project and information regarding events centered around World Water Day, March
21st, please visit our website:

http://downstream.ecuad.ca/

Beaver Fur Hat

I recently got a commission to make a beaver fur hat. It’s beaver fur and black suede with felted wool lining. The warmest I tells ya. I made a pattern from a hat that my grandma Joanne made for my dad when he was just a few years older than I. $200 if you want one. I have white hide and white rabbit fur too if you wanna go whiteout for $150.

Lowriders

Last weekend I got to participate in a dope workshop with Dylan Miner and built this bad boy. We built 4 bikes for the 4 directions, mine was white; the North. It’s going to be part of the Beat Nation exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

“Beat Nation reflects a generation of artists who juxtapose urban youth culture with Aboriginal identity in entirely innovative and unexpected ways. Using hip hop and other forms of popular culture, artists create surprising new cultural hybrids—in painting, sculpture, installation, performance and video—that reflect the changing demographics of Aboriginal people today.

In Vancouver, the unceded territories of the Coast Salish Nations have been a meeting ground for urban Aboriginal youth for decades and, since the early 1990s, hip hop has been a driving force of activism in the community. The roots of hip hop culture and music have been transformed into forms that echo current realities of young people, creating dynamic forums for storytelling and indigenous language, as well as new modes of political expression. This movement has been influential across disciplines—similar strategies appear in the visual arts where artists remix, mash-up and juxtapose the old with the new, the rural with the urban, traditional and contemporary as a means to rediscover and reinterpret Aboriginal culture within the shifting terrains of the mainstream.

While this exhibition takes its starting point from hip hop, it branches out to include artists who use pop culture, graffiti, fashion and other signifiers of urban life in combination with more traditional forms of Aboriginal identity. Artists create unique cultural hybrids that include graffiti murals with Haida figures, sculptures carved out of skateboard decks, abstract paintings with form-line design, live video remixes with Hollywood films, and hip hop performances in Aboriginal languages, to name a few. While focused on artists working along the West Coast, Beat Nation brings together artists from across the Americas and reveals the shared connections between those working in vastly different places.

As signifiers of Aboriginal identity and culture continue to shift and transform, and older traditions find renewed meaning in new forms of expression, one thing remains constant: a commitment to politics, to storytelling, to Aboriginal languages, to the land and rights, whether it be with drums skins or turntables, natural pigments or spray paint, ceremonial dancing or break dancing.

Organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery and based on an initiative of grunt gallery. Co-curated by Kathleen Ritter, associate curator, Vancouver Art Gallery, and Tania Willard, a Secwepemc artist, designer and curator.” – Vancouver Art Gallery

Northern Shelter

The Romance Capital of the Yukon,
Opening February 17, 7pm at Rubble Gallery, 1879 Powell St.
Exhibition dates: February 17th- March 4th

The exhibition The Romance Capital of the Yukon focuses on the idea
of shelter and the romanticism of trying to find a space for yourself in
the context of the north, specifically the town of Dawson City in
Canada’s Yukon Territory. Each of the artists has based their work for
this show on personal experiences from their time spent in the Yukon
Territory in the summer of 2011. The show features work by Northern
Shelter Collective members:

Justin Apperley
Danielle Bessada
Margaret Bowes
Calder Stephen Cheverie
Rebecca Geddes
Adonika Jayne
Louise Reimer
Carley Lovett
Jill Macknee
Jeneen Frei Njootli
Aubyn O’Grady
Jo Peters
Hayden Thomas

Performances by Adonika Jayne and Jeneen Frei Njootli.

The Rubble Gallery is a new community flex space intent on breaking
down the barriers between the arts and increasing circulation and
accessibility in the local arts scene in Vancouver. Bringing together
artists, entertainers, patrons and audiences, our goal is to highlight
high quality projects and bodies of work from local and international
sources. Together with more affordable spaces, fund-raising events,
and upcoming grants and scholarships, our aim is to make an impact in
people’s lives and have a memorable time in the process. In order to
expand ideas of space and function Rubble is using a flex concept to
morph to the will of its inhabitants, incorporating production, exhibition,
retail, entertainment, and other dynamic uses.

rubblegallery@gmail.com
northernshelter@gmail.com
Artists and Exhibitors – Ari 604 724 7849
Parties – Events – Space Leasing – Promotions – Opening Galas – Quinn
604 724 8074

tu n’est pas un ange

stuffy from 2008

plaques

 

Garbage Bunny

Here is an illustration that my friend Johnny MacRae commissioned to use as a book cover for his soon to be published collection of poems titled The Garbage Bunny. Johnny MacRae is an extreme daydreamer.  The inaugural Underground Individual Poetry Slam Champion of Canada, and a two-time Vancouver Poetry Slam team member, Johnny has been called “the Bob Ross of Canadian Poetry,” “one of the weirdest poets in Canada,” and “a scraggly bear riding a circus bike.”  He has a good pile of fruit, and he enjoys walking in the rain.

Vancouver Indigenous Media Arts Festival

I got to do some work for the first Vancouver Indigenous Media Arts Festival this fall and here is the video that Redwire Magazine put together for us.

Mahsi cho!

Loves Lost

A few samples of illustrations for a book that I am working on Loves Lost: Portraits of items misplaced while inebriated in 2011.

neath the white sand

slides taken in PEI

Chilkat Raven’s Tail Weave

Mahsi to Cheryl Samuel for teaching us this beautiful weave.

 

study

masks

Parade of Lost Souls

I wanted to thank Public Dreams and Dusty Flower Pot for including me in this amazing event. I jumped into the races late in the game, but with a little help from my friends, we pulled it off in under two weeks! Ari, you are an amazing (and patient) organizer. I wanted to say thank you to Dana Tizya-Tramm for playing beautifully throughout the evening! You were a hit! I also wanted to acknowledge Cherie Crocker, Cody Brown, Kirsten Aubrey, Sibel D, Adrienne Waunch, Alex Cho, Justin Apperley, Gwaai Edenshaw, Natasha, Alex Achem, thank you to for being a wise sister/double dutcher, a still and frightening spirit, a sweetie pie making into the wee wee hours, a singer, an otter dancer, a brainstorm, a ride, a hand, and to Brodie Kitchen for hookin a sista up!

arooo

banner by Ronnie Dean  Harris.
http://vimaf.com/
I’m helping out with the festival and we are looking for volunteers! If interested click here.

 

cloak n slips

back 40

more n more n more n

Oh, and His Wife is a Painter Too/A Grazing Quality

water colour, 9 x 12. some sketches for a big guy

the false spirited beer drinkers of a distanced nature.

no face regalia

the giant and the deer

Photo by Arseni Khamzin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Touching colours of water.

Bloody Sneakers: The Legend of Butterfly and Wolfgirl’s First Kill.

Went to go and pick berries and got a beast. Twas the first time my dad’s brand new 30 06 was fired. Dropped it in one shot. Bonnie calls me “Hunts With Berry Bucket.” Mahsi Cho, Vadzhai.

the burning garbage of eden

published

I feel honoured that Frances Boyle chose this image to accompany her poem Moon Made, published online by Leaf Press. Frances had taken the image years ago when I was still in high school, at the time not knowing that it was my stencil and face making its mark in her neighbourhood. She is the mother of a dear friend of mine and it is a beautiful poem. You can read  her poem here.

2242 kilometers into the arctic

On a caribou bone I made a wish. With an owl I sent you a gift, but the post was striking and it got hit. I cast my nets of inter by the porcupine river. My teeth chatter and it feels like winter. The igod refutes the arctic radio waves and ignores my payment praise. The canon quit at rampart’s grave. Humble, humble, fumble pie.

Bruised Soul, Granville Stroll

Performance on Granville Street from 2-3 am, Friday April 8th, 2011.

work in progress

I used to make more masks, years ago. I have been feeling a little stuck lately and am reverting back to the modes that I am most comfortable in. My hands have not touched clay nearly enough lately. So therapeutic. To think I used to consider my self a ceramicist! I gots 10 years under my belt. How did that happen? I have never really photo docked my ceramics pieces because they are so difficult to document well. Theory and criticality aside, I am quite happy with this mask. I am going to buy some grey horse hair for it this morn before class. Here is one that I made in 2008.

attempt at

It feels as if I have gathered more than two fistfuls of earth in my palms and every time I move one hand to compact the earth, a little falls or shifts out of place. The more I move my hands to compact the earth, the less I am able to keep track of where my hands had been placed and the more chaotic my relationship to that substance becomes.

I am realizing that I have interesting criticality to bring to the table but that it does not manifest in sophisticated forms. They key to unlock this is time, a richness I watch others indulge in from afar. I have been unable to find all of the hours in the passing days to sincerely complete my endeavors, to sincerely connect to others.

Why do I feel the need to over-personalize my artist statement? Does the reader gain anything from knowing this personal information? Does it help or hinder the reading? Am I providing too narrow of a lens to view my work?

What is my methodology? How would I approach curation and participation? Is art the most appropriate tool in terms of participatory practice? I am lacking criticality here and would like to further investigate the problems of accommodation. I think I need to be a little less tame about all of this; I am still being too safe and hiding behind theory. I am fooling some, but not all by over-intellectualizing my work. My practice is very segregated at the moment. “Your work doesn’t quite alienate enough people at the moment, you need to push it further.”

I really feel like I need to get out the city and that I am losing my mind a bit here. Perhaps it is because of school and stress that I am feeling so repelled from this place. Perhaps it is my nomadic tendency, perhaps I am needing my yearly escape, but I am really feeling called to be up North. It is a difficult feeling to put into words, but I feel it in my bones. I want to breath in that air that is so pure its sharp, I want to be on the river in a boat with dad gutting fish, I want to get my hands dirty and my mind clear. I need to be humbled. I want to go to bed tired and sore from a fucking hard day’s work. I need to get out of this city that has a legitimized arena for intellectual masturbation. Although it has relevance and meaning in a specific circle that I have managed to wedge myself into, it’s currency is unknown in the places that matter most.

 

Tighty-Whities

Hired Caucasian male performs in the Aboriginal Gathering Place for the opening of Emily Carr University’s annual Aboriginal art exhibition,
March 10th, 2011.

This performance is part of a series where I employ non-native males that I have been romantically involved with to take my place in my performances that deal with Native subject matter.

we were both the same: investigations in soluble personalities and a few narcissisms

Erica Lord is another Indigenous artist who has investigated the performativity of the female gender through altering her exterior. How we appear changes how we are perceived, which shifts the way we move through the world through subtle interactions, therefore effecting our situated knowledge. To view Erica Lord’s Portrait Series click here.

Johnny

Hired attractive caucasian male walks into room, removes his clothes, save for his socks and underwear, then proceeds to rub oil all over his body while artist photographs him. Male then holds antler wrapped in wood-patterned paper above his head while group discusses the work. Performance at Emily Carr University, February 3rd, 2011, duration: 35 minutes.

I have decided to hire attractive caucasian males to carry out my performances for me. The performances question widely held ideas of authorship in aboriginal artwork while objectifying the male.

impersonating dead men from the depps of her heart

 

 

 

Navigating Ethical Representation Opening February 9th 6-9pm

Navigating Ethical Representation shares the important artwork and community building that came out of the collaboration between participants at the Dr. Peter Center, West End (DPC) and Emily Carr University students taking a Community Projects course last fall. The course focused on challenges and successes in navigating ethical issues while representing and collaborating with people living with HIV/AIDS.
The DPC is a healthcare organization that supports people living with HIV/AIDS, many of whom are members of marginalized and at-risk communities, such as those living in the Downtown East Side. Students involved in the Emily Carr class come from design, media, visual arts, photography, and critical studies departments. The objective of the course was to build relationships between students and DPC participants.
With such a strong code of ethics underlying the show, organizers had to be continuously mindful of ethically and accurately representing the participants, the artists, and the institutions involved. Over the duration of the course, students were profoundly affected both by their experiences working with people who are living with HIV/AIDS, and by the emphasis on taking an ethical approach to art-making. Though difficult, this struggle was valuable and we choose to showcase it here.
This show has also become a platform for the newly established Faculty of Culture and Community, which is mandated toforge meaningful and mutually beneficial partnerships with both non-profit organizations and industry, and to develop innovative curriculum that facilitates students laddering into BC communities and industry after graduation.
—-
The openings went great and were well received. I got an email from one of the women at the DPC who said that the participants were absolutely thrilled about the outcome of the show. What is great about the location of the gallery is that it is on such a lively corner in the DTES and was really welcoming to its residents. I feel what changed the show tremendously this time was the inclusion of participant Rob Lamoureux’s 8 photographs. One of the issues with this project is that as soon as you have an artist, you have a subject, which means you are othering or distancing another person from you as supposed to engaging in something more participatory. I feel that the show was successful and that the work transcended this artist/subject relationship.
Artists:
Kelsey Brill-Funk
Amanda Cooper
Anne Curtis
Rachel Dykerman
Mina Ghaani
Bahar Habibi
Jacklyn Harris
Juli Klingler
Rob Lamoureux
Kristi Newton
Anya Vetrova with Jose

Opening is Tuesday, March 8th at 7pm.
The Interurban Gallery, 1 East Hastings
The show runs from March 7th – 31st, the Interurban Gallery will be open Wednesday – Saturday from 11am-5pm
Facilitated by Jeneen Frei Njootli
We were mentioned in the Georgia Straight! The show was selected as a “Straight Choice” in the newspaper. You can view the article here.

inside

I am interested in human behavior, challenging social barriers, soluble personalities, urban Indians, gender studies, queer culture, glitter, face painting, other campy things and hunting. My work is inspired by Maria Abramovic, Mike Parr, Brian Jungian, Allyson Mitchell, Donna Haraway, Valerie Solanas, Natalie Halford, Leigh Bowery, Cocorosie and Rebecca Belmore.
I want to revisit some themes that I had been working with a few years ago. I have felt conflicted about working with native subject matter and was not pleased with the way that I was addressing it. I feel that the work was naïve and relied too heavily on blatant signifiers. I decided to abandon ‘Native art making’ to contemplate just what this means and pursue other art modes for a period of time. However, being an artist who is Aboriginal, I would like to revisit this facet of my practice now that I feel my work has advanced sufficiently on its own sans Indian content. I am interested in questioning authorities of aboriginality and the performativity of race and gender. In the next few months I will be working on a performance piece where I hire an attractive caucasian male to enact my performances.

 

No Sweat in the Arctic – Old Crow Christmas

I am writing to you on new years eve from my brother’s place in the ‘sub’ division in Old Crow, Yukon. minus 35 outside or something along those lines. Cold and windy enough to make your eyes water as the wind blows snow into youR face, freezing your already watery eyelashes together as you try to drive skidoo home because dad and his new p.y.t wanted to walk home from auntie Glena’s. Its been great to hang with my dad, brother, nephew and a couple of 80 year olds, do some sewing, writing, pondering and grounding… and eating way to much chocolate and caribou and ham and candy canes and hard candy and cookies. (puhhhhdge) Fudge? I guess I have just been realizing how little truly matters and is fulfilling in Vancouver and in the modern city central lives that we weave for ourselves, I can empathize with your needing to get outta there. Not to say that the lives we lead are superficial but its easy to get derailed, for me anyways, and lose sight of what has meaning and weight to it. I just hope that I can hold onto the little morsels of wisdom I have uncovered here and can keep up this nice, wholesome feeling pace. So many powerfully small things occur each day here but one would not see them otherwise or elsewhere, like holding my brothers hand for the first time and watching my nephew grow up.

Humans and Christmas. Even though many may not believe in a lot of the founding principles or current embodiments, humans love Christmas. I totally got caught up in Christmas this year. Hell I even bought a bunch of presents from Walmart. Human tendencies: love organizing, planning, cooking, looking forward to one day in particular. Decorating (home-making). Gathering and sharing/giving to friends and family. Perhaps the reason holidays such as Christmas have continued to be so popular and adopted by other cultures is that it fulfills these basic human desires, needs and habits in ways that our society and life-style no longer provides. What if we took the time to create our own holiday/celebration ideal for us? For our family/community? A way to house our creative, instinctive, family driven needs? Festivals, events, ceremony?

Video by Melissa Frost and Dennis Allen

GEVA 410 – Fall

- photos by Emma Kesler

 

 

 

E.R.

This is a sound piece functioning as my ethical representation of the participants that I connected with at the Doctor Peter Center. Plug in your headphones and close your eyes to listen.

I knew that I did not want to use photography as my method of representation for this project. I feel that photography can be an easy way out or too simple a solution for such a complex matter as representing people from a marginalized and at risk community.

I had originally done some field recordings of conversations to document the soundtrack at the DPC. I asked one man to record some of his opinions on creativity, the housing epidemic in Vancouver and the downtown eastside. I also did some recordings with a Native man singing traditional drum songs. I decided to base my piece off of one particular field recording that I took in the living room area at the center. I made one vocal tone to represent each person that was in the room at the time of the field recording. The harmonies mimic the conversation, certain parts more audible than others, depending on its ebb and flow.

Woo Magazine

Video was published in Woo Magazine!
http://www.woomagazine.ca/2010/10/15/jeneen-frei-njootli/

Exchange Show

THE EXCHANGE SHOW is an annual event at Emily Carr University. It showcases artwork that over 30 students have created while on exchange, drawing influences from other cultures, artists and educators. Their work will be exhibiting in The Concourse Gallery from October 21st to October 28th, 2010

Featured artists:
Alex Achtem
Zhoh Autrite Mauw
Andrew Campbell
Madeline Campbell
Joey Chung
Shannon Craver
Jeneen Frei Njootli
Del Hillier
Andrew Hogg
Katherine Hyde
Arseni Khamzin
Felix Chun Lam
Zack Marlow-McCarthy
Carrie Mombourquette
Marina Nazarova
Kalli Niedoba
Kimberly Palmer
Joanna Peters
Nicole Pizzarro
Yuriy Rzhemovskiy
Rachel Simpson
Alex Slaughter
Daniel Smith
Mitch Speed
Sen-Huy Tan
Liz Toohey-Wiese
Ola Volobuyeva
Emma Walter
Anastasia Watson
Haliey Gooch
Haley Hunt-Brondwin
Sibel Duzenli

Join us for music by Alex Slaughter, drinks and some snacks at the opening reception – 7pm on October 21st.

Phatic

A conversation in Sydney.

swedish. savary.

I journeyed to Vancouver Island, Cortes, Refuge Cove and Savary with S(weet-ish)wedish photographer, Maria Wallstam.

Here are two collabs.

 

breaks and quakes in southern lands

I was not ready to leave Sydney. Not ready to say goodbye to my friends, to the places that so quickly became familiar. I miss biking on the other side of the road. I miss the hipsters in Newtown. I miss ma mamma wombat. I miss being called Zhoh, the sound of my name now unfamiliar to my ears. My ears. Are always the first to go when by heart doesn’t want to. Relocate once more. How does my body sense its departure? How does it foresee the coming change?

The title of this post is taken from a song that Katie mac wrote.

Sunday. Sounded like fun in the sun. Parks, barks and fruit marks. Snaking down ya chin as the grape juice begins. Food, food, sit and brood. Its all grood = great + good in the hood. Like a newtown rat or coocaracha. Oocha, oocha, I feel the soucha. In the side of my soul. When it leapt out. Into the spittoon bowl. Bawl, bawl, howl, howl. Till my  eyes is dry, till its bright out. Oot n a boot with no tang to shoot.

I surmise convicts and colonizers are all that lie here. Whisked away to the Whitsundays. Deep blue seas, darlin. Bow and arrows, sand stuck to my toes. Helicopter rides and a beautiful lie. Heart shaped reefs and calamari tween my teef.

<img class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-714″ title=”

Truthfully, things have calmed down on this ship. No more late night storms. No new leaks have sprung. All is not done or undone. This ship simply sits amidst the waves. To be honest i crave. Something more adventurous or complicated.

As the last few weeks of school continued to unfold, I realized to what extent I loath technology. It makes me oscillate wildly and ventilate in a hyper(bolic) fashion. Scanners and cutting pros, all things final. Like a spinal tap. That. Throws. All associated bones into conundrums and out of sync hums. Shanghai. Oh me oh my. What is on your brain? Sail boats and freight trains? Snow monkeys and space planes?

You still occupy the same part. of my main art(ery) in allegory despite the distance dance.

film

shot it through a crystal ball.

The Five Day Affair – a performative mark making show

Throughout a business week five artists performed at DEDSPACE Gallery, their actions leaving behind a trace, remnant, or crumb which was on exhibit at the closing. All Performances began at 1 pm. The closing reception was on Friday May 21st 4-7pm at DEDSPACE Gallery, Balmain Road, Sydney.

Mon – Zhoh Autrite Mauw
Tue – Gemma McKenzie-Booth
Wed – Fraser Reach
Thu – Luke McMaster
Fri – Jacob Whayne Dillow

Here are some photos of the performances:
Fraser exhibited a small social documentation device in the corner of one of the gallery’s rooms. Fraser documented his initial reaction to each individual that was moving about the room. One of the requirements was that he document as many individuals as possible. The performance continued until the scroll was filled.

Luke’s performance is part of a body of work that he is currently developing, which deals with the past and the act of remembrance in the context of Australia’s colonial history

Jacob’s performance was an eerie and enticing fusion of a butcher and a baker. He sat on the floor breaking plaster cakes filled with coloured cornstarch and throwing them across the room.

Curated by Jacob Whayne Dillow & Zhoh Autrite Mauw: thefivedayaffair@gmail.com

spillin snow

Art Opening

The majority of people at an opening spend a few minutes glancing at the art and the next hour or two is spent in line at the bar, at the snacks table, shmoozing and smoking. For my solo show, the gallery itself will function as the work of art. I want to comment on the social dynamic of exhibition openings challenging the value systems at play in the art world. I handed out 50 hand painted, editioned prints of the poster as a means for advertising, while the work displayed in the gallery was comprised of 151 black and white xeroxed prints. The opening will begin at 5pm Friday May 7th 2010 at Ded Space Gallery. It is located on the Sydney College of the Arts Campus.

peersoon

I had the opportunity to be the stylist in a photoshoot with Caty Smith http://catysmith.wordpress.com/ more photos with appear soon!

baba loons

further explorations in drawing liberation. balloons imaginations. play. childhood. certain darkness in imagery. deceptive simplicity.

moccasnooze.

it took me a year and a day to make these babies. commissioned by mike g. a more modern moccasin. day of the dead spin. the skull lulls.

zilo

like a nomad

wandering hands

feel and find their way

molten glass and lady bags

performing object night at sca

garbage bags and industrial fans. very much inspired by Joshua Allen Harris. i’m interested in liberating  drawings from the picture plane  by either turning them into two dimensional objects like the paper cut outs wrapped around a doorframe or making them into three dimensional object such as this one.

faux toes.

i received an email today from a man in montreal. a friend of his recognized me on his artist website of cuba travel photos. photoes. faux toes.

so i was sitting with c-la and her family at a cafe in old havana.  a man approached: he asked to take my picture: i obliged.  months later i found myself contemplating the journey of the photograph and its ability to do what no other medium can: infinitely reproduce a single moment in time.  if later i cannot recall this moment at the ease of the photographer while glancing through his portfolio, who then owns that moment?  with an othering gaze the lens blends me into the exoticized scenery. the shutter clicks. into this mans portfolio. a prize. a “rasta girl.” one to be flaunted, never to be known. who cares? I am a ((n)idealized?) moment hanging on a wall somewhere in north america, suspended in zeros and ones on your screen. portraits. hmm. think before you shoot.

hatch

not particularly grand video sketches for future endeavors.

yewsa sugar shaker heart breaker

womp womp

oz and i have fallen madly in love. we are going to elope. she treats me so good. I love her so much i wanna take her out back. of tha club n get her pregnant.

I give mac attack partial credit for what you have just read.

i want maorw said the seuss cat with a ratta tat tat

zeezes har phototronic sket-chez vaiting vor zee reel zing. big pappa chamellas n pee-pole to p’ain’t on. appearances monsoon.

along the way

brittle little bones

no scanner. shitty pichas.

tattoo designed for laura

yes those are sleep marks on her arm. just woken up post planet earth pass out. laura commissioned me in the summer to design a tattoo to go around the original triangle. raven/phoenix with peacock tail. naked ladies in the wings. she got the tattoo done by a friend at ink spot in ottawa. it only took him and hour and a half!!!

hungry ghosts

wigs wings and wondering things.
u best come bonafied personified.
alter ego.
halter beagle.
lets play murder with the winks n blinks
and act in character?
dancing later?
hand stands? are u a fan fan?
thou must dorn a wiggie
or yee will wear spaghetti
come on out to the sunny side of the street to chratalie conjus haus. adorn thyne silliest of hairs and come pre-peared. hookah bazooka joe. mulled wine n mo. 8 er 9 afta dinnah thyme.

want to help me out? want chur face on ma baday, er, blog? send me widemouthed silly faced photoes. wigs glasses big bodacious bling and animals are strongly advised. jeneen_njootli@hotmail.com

a small and informal bou-fay

07-09

The two last works were exhibited at Internal|External.

In 2009 I co-curated Emily Carr University’s annual Aboriginal art exhibition, titled Internal|External, with Lauren Wood. The goal of the exhibition was to provide an opportunity for the Aboriginal students at Emily Carr University to showcase their recent work and gain valuable experience by participating in a curated gallery show. The aim of the exhibition was also reflect the school’s support of Aboriginal arts and community as well as bringing awareness to the student body and the general public.
The theme for this years show was “Internal|External.” This theme allowed the students to explore subject matter dealing with identity, internal thought and outward expression, “othering” people or cultures, communication/interpretation.

chesticle

vrai film

caribou antlers 08

old crow, yukon 09

skitts 09

skittsers 09

fire in the disco! skookumchuck 09

oh mah goddess oh mah gawd

silkscreened diptych 09

uppers

mmmmkay. not too sure about how i feel in regards to posting old material. i figure it should be on the ninternets though. almost up to date.

metal fabrications and wolf maginations

more sounds!

metal bras TA TA TAs. thanks metal shop for the spot welder. cheap. dirty. does the trick lickety split. chainmail on the other hand is a painstaking, fussy fidget widget. the second picha is a performance i did in 2008 with a welded drum frame and inner circle. uh mai zing resonance & tone, quite different from wooden framed drums.

mossakins n odder skins 07-09

The moccasins began in the winter of 07 while living on Webster, a cozy little joint oozing warmth and home, infinitely inspiring as were its occupants. I made the pattern for the first pair of moccs from mukluks my Grandma made and gave to my mother. I own two of the five pairs above. The tan and green ones I traded for a too small homemade bike equipped with a strawberry covered banana seat. The red high-tops with turquoise laces I made for a friend 3 years after promising them to her. Yeah, I’m good like that sometimes. Snaps you still owe me drawings. Finalement! The mother earth and father sky boots! Soul (shakalaka) sista C-la asked me to make these for her. The most involved, challenging and exciting pair yet! Wish I had a better picture folks. For the full scoop check out:

http://ubyssey.ca/culture/?p=10754

The first bag was inspired by a backpack that a dear friend of mine Eliz had gifted to me for my journey to BC and was also pour C-la. It is tan and red elk hide, fair trade cow bone buttons, rivets n canvas. The second was also a commission made from elk hide… same steeze BUT with hand made buttons made of caribou antler, fashioned by yours truly.  This lil guy here is a medicine pouch, first time using a leather burner!

hum drum. hum drum. kidney beans rattle in a caribou’s chest.

Live Bang Die collection 09

the Live Bang Die line is a proliferation of something that started in a grungy vancouver apartment. it evolved, made love to itself like a pair of black wizards on its way to seattle and was full on by the time it returned. all clothing items were hand sewn or thrifted, then silkscreened.

thanks to geoff tanner, asami tsukada, audra vikta and brodie kitchen for modeling.

draw a blank

featherhead by alan rahi

bdaystickyjam

all shot off my computron in my “studio” ie, parents basement, in which i currently reside. merw. columbian jewelry inspires my body wires.

a non texticular transmission

need to spend more time alone and freak out less. Im in Ottawa where the wind blows right tween yo toes despite yur boots. grimace through the slush. mush! mush! Lots of poetry shows, visiting art galleries, trying to find a lil cheap nook to call home across the world, gorging on tasty mama love food that is free, old friends, face painting, silly dancing, lots o drawing, too much rum that I brought back from cuba along with 8 packs of too strong cigarettes n a box o cigars. Its been great to be home, not be in school or working like a mad woman.. this has never happened before. I still feel like I am perpetually jumping between worlds trying not to forget the last and embrace the present while bracing for the future. i am a geographical twitcher, shape-shifter nomad and eye hees tie-red.
mmmm
i hope things are well with you. that you are happy with your art and that christmess wasn’t too maddening for you. J’espère que tu écris encore des chansons, des poèmes et que t’es proche de trouver quelque chose qui te fais complètement contante. Aussi que t’as pas perdu ton “sourir qui fait fondre les coeurs” (C-la’s words not mine).
rawr
j

soundtangs

Recorded into a grate by the cambie skytrain with Ray Madison
Gratemoan 

Recorded in the bathroom of the Guggenheim in November 2009
Art Snob Part I 

Art Snob Part II 

ahoy hoy,
how doth thy bode young sire? the snow, has she graced the lands over yon? She dareth not show her face here. Here the rain billows and blows in sheets, saturating our bones for weeks and weeks.
tinslemoan – jenarla 

and release

tracing trendy tribulations

ink quill & water colour

letter to a friend:
oh my goddess just what I need babay. somma ting new n saucay. get me outta da rain it drains it drains. Hope all is well skeet skeet all ova aussie streets gon melt some panties and live in dem shanties. busk n husk that corn shells shorn all yellow and sweet underneath make ya wanna move ya dancin feet. en serio chica chafe ya cha chas on down tew Coo-bah drop dem drawrs make em want mawr. Mawr. mawr said the seuss cat with a rat-a-tat-tat, said cat sued the doctor the verdict read she wasn’t a proper proctor

gold stripes and mutant tikes

when the sun dial strikes lime green we dream dream dream

churn turn burn into crystal feather machines

concept developed by jenarla, face paint by carla manuela, photos taken by rory h of snake foot.