Sinaaqpagiaqtuut/The Long-Cut is a project by Embassy of Imagination, produced by PA System. It is co-commissioned and co-presented by The Bentway and the Toronto Biennial of Art as part of the latter’s inaugural event, running from September 21 – December 1, 2019.
Sinaaqpagiaqtuut/ The Long-Cut Artists: Parr Josephee, Cie Taqiasuk, Saaki Nuna, David Pudlat, Janine Manning, Kunu Pudlat, Kevin Allooloo, Salomonie Ashoona, Taqialu Pudlat, Oasis Skateboard Factory Fall 2019 Cohort, Ooloosie Ashevak, and PA System (Alexa Hatanaka and Patrick Thompson)
Presented in conjunction with Embassy of Imagination + PA System’s installation at 259 Lake Shore Blvd East, Sinaaqpagiaqtuut/The Long-Cut is a procession that began in Kinngait (Cape Dorset, Nunavut) and continues in Toronto. The procession is performed and features works by Kinngait youth from Peter Pitseolak High School made in collaboration with the Oasis Skateboard Factory School in Toronto that are inspired by Kinngait-Toronto connections and look to the ways these distant places are tethered throughwaterways, art markets, artistic collaborations, and the night sky.
In Kinngait, the procession involved community members celebrating the beginning of the new Lands and Community Leadership program, an EOI and the Cape Dorset Education Authority initiative, made possible by EOI’s collaborative youth-engaged artwork Future Snowmachines in Kinngait. In Toronto the procession performance continues as a reflective walk along the waterfront, nuanced by shared memories held by the performers and the creation of new memories in real time, at points relating to places along the route, e.g. the EOI 2017 mural in Coronation Park, “Avatittinnik Kamatsiarniq”.
Members of the public are invited to witness the performance and are welcome to respectfully follow behind the procession, while reflecting on their own relationship to place.
EOI wishes to thank: Studio PM, The Japanese Paper Place, Flora Shum, Splash Graphics, Ontario Science Centre, Saizula Pootoogook, Taylor LaMarche, Louisa Jaw, Mary Pitsiulak, Mark Etidloie, Ettula Adla,Temela Pitsiulak, Taukie Ashevak, Paul Baron, Annie Noolook, Claude Constantineau, Susan Rowsell, Steve Ferrara/ Well and Good, SAW Nordic Lab, Parkdale Sewing Repair Hub and Creative Reuse Toronto.
Sinaaqpagiaqtuut/The Long-Cut is made possible by the generous support of the RBC Emerging Canadian Artist Program, Canadian North Airlines, and the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation as well as the Canada Council for the Arts, Cape Dorset District Education Authority, Qikiqtani Inuit Association, Canada House, British Museum, Ontario Arts Council, The Government of Nunavut, TakingITGlobal, and XYZ STORAGE. Additional support is provided by the City of Toronto, Billy Bishop Airport, Ira Gluskin & Maxine Granovsky, Richard M.Ivey, Rosamond Ivey, and Tim & Frances Price.
Image Credit: Embassy of Imagination, Sinaaqpagiaqtuut/The Long-Cut, procession at The Bentway as part of the 2019 Toronto Biennial of Art. Photo: Triple Threat. Courtesy Toronto Biennial of Art. Contributors: Embassy of Imagination 2019 participants, PA System, Ooloosie Ashevak, Mathew Nuqingaq, Jamasee Pitseolak, Pitseolak Pootoogook, Evie Kelly, Leah Mersky, Moises Frank, Brandon Webster, Parr Josephee, Cie Taqiasuk, Iqaluk Ainalik, Saaki Nuna, Taqialu Pudlat, David Pudlat, Janine Manning, Kunu Pudlat, Aggiu Ashevak, Kevin Allooloo, Salomonie Ashoona, Natalie Baird x Jonny Lush and the Pang Photo Club.
Bios
Embassy of Imagination (2014–2020) is a long-term project based in Kinngait / Cape Dorset, Canada, created for and by an evolving group of Kinngait youth and the art collective PA System (Alexa Hatanaka and Patrick Thompson, 2010–2020), with collaborators and partners. Projects include youth-centred public placemaking works for the community and the sculpture Future Snowmachines in Kinngait, whichraises funds for locally-led land programming.
Visual artists Alexa Hatanaka (born and lives in Toronto, ON, Canada) and Patrick Thompson (born in Chelsea, QC, Canada; lives in Toronto, ON, Canada) work under the collective name PA System. They exhibit their artwork in institutions worldwide, such as the Royal Ontario Museum, the Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona, the Canada House in London and the Art Gallery of Ontario. They have created public artwork across Canada and around the world. Leaders of Embassy of Imagination, Hatanaka and Thompson have worked on several visual art projects in the arctic for ten years. They have created well-loved murals in the hamlets of Igloolik, Cape Dorset, Iqaluit, and Hall Beach, as well as in the Northern Quebec towns of Kangiqsujuaq, Kuujjuaq and Inukjuak. They have facilitated youth projects at York University, the Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health, and the National Gallery.