S**t (Indian) Politicians Say...

'We must always be cognizant of the power dynamics that give rise to cultural appropriation and the politics of race and colonial privilege in Canada and that continue to exist. Indigenous peoples have been marginalized, stereotyped and maligned for centuries. Real reconciliation and decolonization must include acknowledgement and redress of this historic and current reality.' from a statement from the Canada Council for the Arts It is a commonplace that when some of us look at works of contemporary art, whether music (John Cage comes to mind), dance (the work of Jerome Bel for example) or visual art (any of a number of abstract painters) the response often is ‘Anyone could do that’. The surprising thing then, is that not many actually do. There was the silence, the space between notes, the pile of old tee shirts, the pigments, just lying there, for centuries before Cage, Bel and Rothko came along. It is remarkably difficult to make anything. But that is the artist’s task. ...