Jay Soule – Chippewar
FREE
BUILT ON GENOCIDE JUNE 20 2024 TO MARCH 30 2025
A disturbing pile of fake bison skulls transforms the vaulted cellars of the Aire Publique into catacombs. Jay Soule’s hard-hitting installation, this dark crypt filled with anonymous bones evokes a sad correlation between the 19th century decimation of the Great Plains bison and the genocide of First Nations in Canada.
A powerful artistic statement and decolonial rereading of history, the installation resonates against the background of its location in Place Royale, a spot considered the “cradle of French-Speaking America” where archeological digs have found traces of thousands of years of Indigenous presence.
Jay Soule builds on his charged statement with a series of irreverent, provocative posters that use the language of advertising to lay bare the wounds inflicted by colonialism. With bold conviction, he revisits Canadian history and the dynamics of oppression and colonial exclusion that colour our history and mark our present.
Built on Genocide was originally produced and presented as part of the 2021 Luminato Festival.
INDOOR EXHIBITIONS
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Jay Soule, a member of the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation, creates art under the name CHIPPEWAR, a nod to the hostile relationship between the government of Canada and Indigenous peoples. Through his alias, Soule also alludes to the importance of the traditional warrior role in Indigenous cultures, which he celebrates in his art.
Jay Soule was affected by the Sixties Scoop, a 1960s government policy that saw thousands of Indigenous children torn from their communities. He was adopted at age five, ran away from home as a teenager and lived on the streets of Toronto before finding refuge in one of the city’s Indigenous shelters.
THANKS TO
This work was originally produced and presented as part of the Festival Luminato Festival in Toronto in 2021.
