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Indigenous Sovereignty and Settler Amnesia: Robert Houle's Premises Document generated on 10/02/2021 2:14 a.m. RACAR : Revue d'art canadienne Canadian Art Review Indigenous Sovereignty and Settler Amnesia: Robert Houle’s Premises for Self Rule Stacy A. Ernst Continuities Between Eras: Indigenous Art Histories Article abstract Continuité entre les époques : histoires des arts autochtones Le modernisme en art est souvent considéré comme un développement Volume 42, Number 2, 2017 spécifiquement occidental. Robert Houle, l’artiste, écrivain et commissaire d’exposition d’origine Saulteaux, a cependant toujours soutenu que sa propre URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1042950ar pratique est moderniste et qu’elle suit une filiation esthétique autochtone. Cet DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1042950ar article s’intéresse particulièrement à une oeuvre produite par Houle en 1994, Premises for Self Rule, dans laquelle l’artiste a juxtaposé des textes de législation coloniale à des panneaux peints en monochrome et des cartes See table of contents postales trouvées en archives. Il propose qu’à travers cette stratégie de rapprochement, l’artiste fusionne la tradition de la peinture de parflèche à l’esthétique moderniste, remettant ainsi en lumière la négociation Publisher(s) interculturelle, l’amnésie coloniale, ainsi que les écarts qui séparent les épistémologies et traditions artistiques des peuples autochtones et allochtones. UAAC-AAUC (University Art Association of Canada | Association d'art des universités du Canada) ISSN 0315-9906 (print) 1918-4778 (digital) Explore this journal Cite this article Ernst, S. A. (2017). Indigenous Sovereignty and Settler Amnesia: Robert Houle’s Premises for Self Rule. RACAR : Revue d'art canadienne / Canadian Art Review, 42(2), 108–120. https://doi.org/10.7202/1042950ar Tous droits réservés © UAAC-AAUC (University Art Association of Canada | This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit Association d'art des universités du Canada), 2017 (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/ This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ Indigenous Sovereignty and Setler Amnesia : Robert Houle’s Premises for Self Rule Stacy A. Ernst Le modernisme en art est souvent In the artist statement for his exhibition Lost Tribes (1991), Saulteaux art- considéré comme un développe- ment spécifiquement occidental. ist, writer, and curator Robert Houle stated that although his work might Robert Houle, l’artiste, écrivain et be viewed as the product of a colonized individual, it was for him a declara- commissaire d’exposition d’ori- gine Saulteaux, a cependant tou- tion of independence.¹ Art was, and continues to be, his way of affirming jours soutenu que sa propre pra- his sovereignty in the face of the subjectivity imposed upon him by coloni- tique est moderniste et qu’elle suit une filiation esthétique au- al governments. The result is an oeuvre that defies expectations through tochtone. Cet article s’intéresse the def navigation and combination of two artistic traditions — Indigenous particulièrement à une œuvre produite par Houle en 1994, Pre- and Western. By effectively bringing these realms together, his work vis- mises for Self Rule, dans laquelle ually manifests the complex relationship between Indigenous and setler l’artiste a juxtaposé des textes de législation coloniale à des pan- peoples, thereby establishing a strong discursive foundation for the difficult neaux peints en monochrome et subjects he tackles.² In 1985, Houle turned his atention to the colonial treat- des cartes postales trouvées en archives. Il propose qu’à travers ies and genocidal legislation that created the Canadian nation-state. In total, cete stratégie de rapprochement, he made thirteen works that directly addressed this theme.³ As he revisited l’artiste fusionne la tradition de la peinture de parflèche à l’esthé- these documents and their enduring consequences, he expressed an increas- tique moderniste, remetant ainsi ing sense of urgency. The culmination of this inquiry was Premises for Self Rule en lumière la négociation inter- culturelle, l’amnésie coloniale, (1994). Through a strategic juxtaposition of legal texts, abstract paintings, ainsi que les écarts qui séparent and archival postcards, this work brings the tradition of parfleche painting to les épistémologies et traditions artistiques des peuples autoch- bear on modernist aesthetics as a means of highlighting the tension between tones et allochtones. Indigenous and setler peoples, as well as the gulf that exists between their Stacy A. Ernst is a PhD candidate respective land epistemologies. His aesthetic choices privilege the Indigen- (abd) in the Institute of Compara- ous position, while disrupting setler amnesia, thus causing both parties to tive Studies in Literature, Art, and Culture at Carleton University confront their respective decolonizing responsibilities. — [email protected] Houle’s desire for what he calls “sovereignty over subjectivity” has been a guiding force in his curatorial and artistic practice since the 1980s.⁴ This 1. Robert Houle, “Artist’s State- phrase first came to him as a possible title for an exhibition focused on ment,” in Lost Tribes : Robert Houle, the work of mature Indigenous artists based in North America.⁵ He began exh. cat. (Frederick, md : Hood Col- lege, 1991), 3. to research this project during the summer of 1990, the year Kanesatà :ke 2. Though the term “setler” is Mohawks occupied The Pines at Oka, Quebec, for seventy-eight days in pro- helpful in understanding and decol- onizing the relationship between test against the proposed expansion of a golf course onto land that included Indigenous and non-Indigenous a sacred burial ground. The standoff reflected, among other things, differ- peoples in Canada, it is not with- out its shortcomings. There are, for ing beliefs about land and how it should be used. Racial tensions that already example, many different kinds of existed between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada were non-Indigenous people in Canada. A person born in Canada will have inflamed by the blockade, which became a defining moment in Indigenous a different relationship with set- activism, as well as in the evolving consciousness of the Canadian nation. It tler identity than a new immigrant. My use of the term “setler” is in- was against this backdrop that Houle began to see the artist’s studio, and formed by the work of Emma Batell the work made there, as an oasis of sovereignty that defied the subjectivity 108 Stacy A. Ernst Indigenous Sovereignty and Setler Amnesia : Robert Houle’s Premises for Self Rule imposed on him by colonial authorities. He felt invigorated by the potential of artistic expression to make a difference, and he concluded that “the artist is the site of political and cultural change.”⁶ The visual arts, but painting in particular, have ofen played a significant role in the expression of sovereignty and the articulation of national identi- Lowman and Adam J. Barker. They ties. In his book, Possessions : Indigenous Art/Colonial Culture (1999), anthropologist argue that the term refers to a sys- tem of oppression and helps us to and historian Nicholas Thomas discusses how encounters and interactions understand our relationship to that between Indigenous and setler peoples shape the visual arts in colonial structure. Identifying as a setler Canadian means taking responsib- nation-states. He argues that the differences between the visual representa- ility for the colonial violence that tions made by artists from these two groups stem from their very different brought this country into exist- ence, and that continues to this perspectives on the emergent nation. In his words, “Setler and indigenous day through the systems and insti- visions alike affirm atachments to land, but in terms that are all but incom- tutions that shape our daily lives. In claiming this identity, a non-In- mensurable” ; they thus point “unavoidably to rival atachments to coun- digenous person takes the first step try, and competing imaginings of the nation.”⁷ Modernism in North Amer- toward decolonization. See Emma Batell Lowman and Adam J. Bark- ica was ofen linked to colonial nation-building efforts, as there is enough er, Settler : Identity and Colonialism in space in modernism to address localized subjects.⁸ For example, modern- 21st Century Canada (Winnipeg : Fern- wood Publishing, 2015). ist setler artists, such as Tom Thomson, the Group of Seven, and Emily Carr, 3. These works include Con- focused their atention on the Canadian landscape, while ofen — although stitution Act (1985), B.N.A. Act 1867 (1985), Royal Proclamation (1985), not always — expunging evidence of Indigenous presence.⁹ Although their Indian Act (1985), Visual Premises for works drew on modern European artistic styles, they became inextricably Self Rule (1985), Numbers (1988), Ab- original Title (1989–1990), Shield for linked to the Canadian nation and were ofen held up as representative of it, Self Rule (1990), and Premises for Self both at home and abroad. Indigenous artists in Canada were acutely aware Rule (1994). 4. Robert Houle, “Sovereign- of the power of artistic expression, and, particularly afer 1965, they began to ty Over Subjectivity,” C Magazine, 30 explore the potential of modernism as a means of asserting their sovereign- (Summer 1991) : 30. 5. This title would eventually ty. For artists such as Norval Morrisseau (Anishinaabe), Alex Janvier (Dene be used for a 1999 solo exhibition Suline and Saulteaux), and Bill Reid (Haida), the precepts of modernism were of Houle’s work organized by the Winnipeg Art Gallery and curated by tools among others that could be used to express Indigenous culture and Shirley Madill. presence in a rapidly changing world. Theirs was a modernism that reflected 6. Houle, “Sovereignty Over Subjectivity,” 35. their needs and experiences.
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