Another season of Sound House launches with a reflective night of poetry, hip hop, and spoken word by Indigenous artists to mark Orange Shirt Day. Join in a commemorative lantern procession and take in the powerful performances by the orange glow in MOA’s Haida House.

Arrive early to join the orange lantern procession in honour of residential school survivors, and for the children who never made it home. Pick up a lantern when you check in at the lobby, and make your way down to the Haida House to hang it up in a commemorative display. The evening will feature a powerful showcase of unique talents from the invited Indigenous artists. The docket includes spoken word artist Tawahum Bige, hip hop artist Keliya, and poet Dallas Hunt.

Sound House is MOA’s music series, now in its third season, featuring a fantastic and eclectic lineup of Vancouver bands and artists—from spoken word to hip hop to soul. Sound House is a celebration of culture and music, set in MOA’s Haida House, against a stunning backdrop of Northwest Coast art and architecture. Let the picturesque views and scent of cedar inhabit your senses.

Sound House: Never Forgotten is part of the UBC ARTIVISM Festival 2021: Queering the Self

Doors | 7 pm
Performances | 7:30 pm

Tickets | $20 Regular; Free for Indigenous peoples (includes museum admission)
Ticket proceeds will be donated to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society

Sound House delivers a season of surprises and delights—on the last Thursday of each month: September 30, October 28, November 25.

Proof of vaccination

As per provincial orders, all special event participants 12 and older will be required to provide proof of vaccination (eg. BC Vaccine Card). MOA reserves the right to deny entry or participation to anyone who doesn’t comply with MOA’s stated policies, procedures and visitor code of conduct.

Bios

Dallas Hunt is Cree and a member of Wapsewsipi (Swan River First Nation) in Treaty Eight territory in northern Alberta. He has had creative works published in Contemporary Verse 2, Prairie Fire, PRISM international and Arc Poetry. His first children’s book, Awâsis and the World-famous Bannock, was published through Highwater Press in 2018, and was nominated for several awards. His new book, CREELAND, is out through Nightwood Editions. Hunt is an assistant professor of Indigenous literatures at the University of British Columbia.

Keliya is an innovative artist and hip hop persona who draws roots from Coast Salish Territory. Once a part of the female rap duo Rapsure Risin, gracing the scene in the early 2000s, her current solo work speaks to Indigenous worldviews, rise, voice, and passion for unity and change.

Tawahum Bige is a Łutselkʼe Dene, Plains Cree poet, spoken word artist, and activist from unceded Musqueam, Squamish & Tsleil-waututh Territory (Vancouver). Their Scorpio-moon-ass poems expose growth, resistance & persistence as a hopeless Two Spirit Nonbinary sadboy on occupied Turtle Island. With a BA in Creative Writing from KPU, Tawahum has performed at countless festivals with poems featured in numerous publications. Tawahum’s debut collection of poetry is set for Spring 2022, published by Nightwood Editions.

Sanctuary (by Damien Gillis, Cease Wyss, and Olivier Leroux) is an ecological adventure—a feast for the senses, and an implicit call to action. This 360° projection takes you deep into a forest that has existed since the last Ice Age—and is now under threat. Inside a geodesic dome, built within the Haida House, viewers experience an auditory mix of music and nature sounds, with a wraparound view of an ancient forest. Hosted by Cease Wyss, this is a transporting experience: from the inside of hollow trunks, where black bears make their winter dens, to the precipice of a waterfall and other magical places, it offers the thrill of true immersion.

Every Friday, Saturday + Sunday (until September 26, 2021)

Every 20 minutes (last screening at 4:35 pm)

Free with museum admission; reservations required at admission desk

First-come, first-served; proceed to the line up at the Haida House
Due to the very limited capacity, entry cannot be guaranteed

Bios

Cease Wyss is an educator, ethnobotanist, and media artist of Skwxwu7mesh, Stó:lō, Hawaiian, and Swiss descent. Trained by Indigenous knowledge keepers, she uses her art, her activism, and her teaching to raise awareness and bring about change.

Damien Gillis is a journalist and filmmaker. His documentary Fractured Land won Best BC Film at the Vancouver International Film Festival in 2015, and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Tyee, and elsewhere.

Olivier Leroux is an experienced VR Director and DOP who has taught VR journalism at UBC and works with the iM4 VR program at Emily Carr University.

Credits

FEATURING Cease Wyss PRODUCED BY Damien Gillis CO-DIRECTED BY Olivier Leroux & Damien Gillis CINEMATOGRAPHER: Olivier Leroux Drone Operator: Zachary Moxley WRITTEN BY Cease Wyss, Damien Gillis & Olivier Leroux NARRATED BY Cease Wyss EDITED BY Olivier Leroux POST-PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR & ASSISTANT EDITOR: Damien Gillis FIELD SOUND & NARRATION RECORDING by Edo Van Breemen SOUND DESIGN & MIX by Alba Vega Mulet MUSIC COMPOSED BY Edo Van Breemen & Johannes Winkler PROJECTION TECHNOLOGIST: Eric Chad UNDERGROUND ANIMATION: ART DIRECTION by Julie Andreyev & Maria Lantin ANIMATION BY Edward Madojemu SOUND COMPOSITION BY Simon Overstall POST-PRODUCTION BY Sean Arden

This animation draws on research supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Logging Footage cour: Bryan Short Joanne Pearce UBC School of Journalism Backcountry guides and research support: Ross Muirhead and Hans Penner Project Consultant: Julie Andreyev Production Support: Sadira Rodrigues Dome panel fabrication by G2CNC – Campbell River, BC Dome, and projector rigging equipment: McMedia