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Open Space Gallery exhibit turns concept of giving into an art form

What: Offerings/Offrandes Where: Open Space Gallery, 510 Fort St. Admission: By donation When: Opens Friday, continues to Feb. 20 Now that Christmas has come and gone, it might be worth considering what a “gift” truly is.
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France Trepanier in the longhouse that is part of her exhibition at Open Space Gallery.

What: Offerings/Offrandes
Where: Open Space Gallery, 510 Fort St.
Admission: By donation
When: Opens Friday, continues to Feb. 20

 

Now that Christmas has come and gone, it might be worth considering what a “gift” truly is.

So says Victoria artist France Trepanier, curator of a new installation at Open Space Gallery titled Offerings/Offrandes. Her multimedia show examines and questions the notion of the gift. For instance, is the most important consideration monetary value? And does a gift even have to be something that’s purchased in the first place?

“Do we need all these things?” Trepanier said. “Do we need to consume that much?”

A curator and artist who once worked in the cultural affairs office at the Canadian Embassy in Paris, Trepanier is of Mohawk and Québécois ancestry. She notes that the notion of the gift varies vastly, according to one’s cultural background. In the Canadian aboriginal tradition, gifts are often tied to the land — animals and plants. These gestures — perhaps an offering of tobacco or a song — had spiritual, social or political meaning.

Trepanier invited five artists to create videos on the theme of offerings for her exhibit, which will eventually tour to Ottawa and other Canadian cities.

Bradley Dick, Cathi Charles Wherry and Krystal Cook are aboriginal artists. Farheen HaQ is from India. Charles Campbell is of Jamaican heritage.

“It’s looking at this idea of gifting and offerings from different cultural perspectives,” Trepanier said.

Dick’s video shows him playing a traditional cedar plank drum that he made himself. Cook’s video is of herself telling a story about grandmothers.

One component of Offerings/Offrandes is a longhouse. Inspired by the Eastern-style longhouses of such First Nations peoples as the Mi’kmaq and Mohawk, it’s built with maple poles harvested from a reserve in Quebec’s Gaspé region. Time-lapse videos of the sky will be projected onto the longhouse.

A website allows people to send videos, writing, images or audio recordings to the project (offerings-offrandes.com).

The overall notion, says Trepanier, is to create a gathering place for both indigenous and non-indigenous audience members.

She notes Offerings/Offrandes has a political subtext, in that it brings the offerings of First Nations and other peoples into a “white-wall, contemporary art space” located on the traditional territory of the Lekwungen (Songhees/Esquimalt Nation).

achamberlain@timescolonist.com