This Archive/Counter-Archive project was a series of visits with To Be Seen, To Be Heard: First Nations in Public Spaces, 1900-1965, an exhibition held at MOA from June 2024 to March 2025, and curated by Marcia Crosby and Karen Duffek. Throughout this period I had the time and space to sit, wander, listen, write and sketch out response-work to what I was witnessing.
It was often present in my mind that the photos and films in this exhibit were taken either during or shortly after the Potlatch Ban (1885-1951). The ban forced our cultural and spiritual practice underground and/or altered it for public viewing. Our dances, songs, protocols and languages experienced a fracture during this time. They also survived through acts of resistance and assertion of our sovereignty, as seen in the exhibition and heard from by the descendants of those who kept our practices alive.
Some questions and thoughts that I asked myself or pondered while sitting in and meandering through this space: Who do we dance for when the power goes out? Where do the rules of regalia align with our original lens? Ceremony activated under the colonial gaze is an act of resistance and continuum. The influence of the gaze is persistent. Our ancestors had endurance.
After each visit with the exhibition I sat and sketched out words and drawings, sometimes in the MOA café or on the ferry ride home. These sketches and thoughts weren’t ultra-linear and tended to blend into each other, but they represent my experiences visiting with the exhibition.
All Ears marks a visit where I spent the most time listening and watching the panels of moving image. I’m not sure how many times I watched the loop, but I moved from the bench into a more comfortable squat and sometimes closed my eyes trying my best to record the notes in my head.
Vertigo in the Museum marked my shortest visit. I sometimes struggle with vertigo and it hit hard on my way to the MOA. Sitting for too long with the moving images made me feel seasick, so I walked around to look at the paintings and sculptural pieces. I spent most of my time looking at the works of Charlie James, Mungo Martin, Chief Henry Speck, George Clutesi and Judith Morgan. I admire all these artists for their representation of the human figure and its connection to spirit. After almost bumping into a plinth it was time to exit the building.
Online Performance came after visiting MOA with my friend Jordan Hill, a T’Sou-ke multimedia artist. After spending time at the exhibit we talked for about an hour around Bill Reid’s monumental The Raven and the First Men sculpture. Jordan and I talked about the facades we sometimes carry as artists online and in the real world. I kept thinking about the perceived necessity to mask/un-mask and perform for the screen.
Your Job Has Just Begun is pulled from a quote by Tseshaht artist, author and teacher, George Clutesi (1905–1988). At each visit, I was pulled back into focus on this quote. To me it’s larger than an affirmation. It speaks to the aftermath of the colonial wave that nearly drowned our Nations and is truly a call to action for us to keep working, dreaming, learning, listening and fighting:
“Keep up the fight you brave leaders… With your guidance have we broken the surface of the tide that so nearly engulfed us to its entirety. Hang on, fight, your job has just begun.” — George Clutesi, 1949.
Bracken Hanuse Corlett is an interdisciplinary artist artist hailing from the Wuikinuxv and Klahoose Nations. He got his start in theatre and performance and has since transitioned into a focus on digital-media, live-visual installation/performance and visual arts. He is a graduate of the En’owkin Centre of Indigenous Art and Emily Carr University of Art and Design, and has studied Northwest Coast art, carving and design. Follow Bracken Hanuse Corlett on Instagram.
Archive/Counter-Archive is a project and research network dedicated to activating and preserving audiovisual archives created by Indigenous Peoples (First Nations, Métis, Inuit), Black communities and People of Colour, women, LGBT2Q+ and immigrant communities. Political, resistant, and community-based, counter-archives disrupt conventional narratives and enrich our histories. Established in 2018 through a Social Science and Humanities Partnership Grant, the network—in which MOA is a partner—is committed to finding new ways to activate, preserve and restore Canada’s diverse moving image heritage.