The collection of photos are inspired by the words of Metis writer, Marilyn Dumont in her poem "Letter to Sir John A. Macdonald". Connecting the lands via CP Rail in so-called Canada intended to illicit a unity. In this day, this remains lacking any fulfillment. This selection of images are placed at the location of the terminal CP Rail station in Vancouver and take a focal point on the iconography of the intolerance of Metis peoples by means of a L'assomption sash in various positions, including a noose- interweaving the hanging of Riel at the hands of Macdonald and the many lives lost at the residential schools and their suffering intergenerationally incurred by his policy. There is a denotation of progression through the set pieces that are featured within the slideshow. I ask that the value of location and stylistic framing is of importance within the consumption of these images. Colours hold an importance as to how I perceive the life and livelihood of Metis kin, the vibrancy and by extension, showing existence is crucial to being able to take up space and continue unashamedly in the ever living fight. Basic reading to introduce and further create framework for guiding personal interpretation: 1, 2. Introducing the lovechild of Macdonald once grown up, the unavoidable barbed wire to harsh out any trespassers is a placing of physical irony upon the lands entirely across Canada stolen and occupied. The dream of a connected Canada precedes the immensity of CP Rail as it is in the present day, the interpretation of using bokeh to present a hazy and wavering state of these times and places. The noted polar lack of lighting of the fencing against a vibrant background is intended to create further introspection on the following imagery and "gating", or "bordering", as a concept. 3. Branding and economic terms are featured in the third image, aspects of the transportation-means and monetary gains via CP Rail. A piece of ironic naming with the evergreen shipping containers are dichotomous with the destruction of the beautiful evergreen trees that spread the nation. 4. Creative liberty with focus at low aperture allows simultaneously viewing the in focus background of the concrete laden buildings covering every horizon near Waterfront station & this CP Rail terminus, along with the secondary and primary "props", the use of the signage and the noose-tied sash much more obscured. 5, 6. Intended darkness is used in this series of images in order to contrast the use of vibrancy that is weaved into both physically and conceptually into the sash: or further the, Metis spirit. There may be certain difficulty in visualizing the two props, which fade info the like-tones. This may be noticed throughout the ranges and may be viewed as a fading into history much like the black or grey shades will mash details together into the background. 7. In succession to 4., this image shows the bordering and the props inherited and only ever seen over this partitioning. The text of the signage is expressive of the treatment of land theft from Indigenous peoples, among a vast number of other intended contextualization I wish to leave for interpretation, especially on the front of graffiti. 8, 9. Both images in this pairing are focally on the noose, hanging off the barbed wire of the fencing. While there are a number of visual aspects to glean from, the last image stylistically attempts to bring in another use of fleetingness in motion, yet more so during a vibrant time of the Metis, the grated fence is visible though the neck-hole in an attempt to correlate the death of persons and culture among the destructive policies prescribed by John A. Macdonald, his predecessors, and successors. 10, 11, 12. The final three images follow a pattern of increasing desaturation into greyscale and B&W images, 10 being a top half of the bottom noose knot. As the photographer, this was originally framed to create a quazi-perspective of Riel and the news of his hanging, an entirely sombre time, greyscale. 11 and 12 engage in a mild form of poetic visualization by the use of blocking, or blacking out letters to change the meaning of the secondary prop, the sign. The respective images fade into a completely non-coloured undertone, the place is not for them and they are bordered out.
