Title: Directions to BUSH Gallery
Authors: Tania Willard and Leah Decter
Series: Undercurrents and Flows
Host Artists (series editors): Lois Klassen and Deanne Achong
Designer: Aaniya Asrani and Emily Davidson
Book Binder: Ruby Lewis and others
Printer: Moniker Press; Club Card
Date: 2024
Language: English
Envelope dimensions: 4.25″ (106 mm) x 5.5″ (141 mm) x .13″ (4 mm)
Binding: Folded “fortune teller” presented in a card folder and envelope with a colour sticker closure
Edition: 225
ISBN: 978-1-988895-35-2
Copyright : Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 ) License). Content copyrights remain with listed contributors.
Print copies are freely available through mail art exchanges, in person exchanges, and at cost to public institutions or mutual aid organizations. Contact lightfactorypublications@gmail.com for more information.
A collaboration between artists Tania Willard (mixed Secwépemc and settler) and Leah Decter (Ashkenazi Jewish white settler), this “fortune teller” game will test players’ knowledge of land claim events in western Canada, and will ultimately lead the fortune-seeker to “LAND BACK”. A spiral text on the inside of the fortune teller offers poetic “directions” for respectful travel across the lands now called Canada in light of Indigenous sovereignty, colonial occupation and broken promises over land. Look inside the envelope to see an image of wildflowers that remind us how the flowering of the land is also a map leading us somewhere. The spiral essay starts with these words,
Firstly, you must know where you are. You must know who you are, where you are, and how you got there. Ask what your positions are in relation to colonization, both then and now. What are the intergenerational responsibilities that flow from these positions? From your relations? …
The artists acknowledge the support of Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Canada Research Chair Program, as well as the Manitoba Arts Council that contributed to the making of this publication.
This publication would not have been possible without funding and support from BC Arts Council (Individual Arts Award); Canada Council for the Arts (Research Creation, Explore and Create grant); SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at Critical Media Art Studio, School of Interactive Art and Technology, SFU; Centre for Inter-Media Arts and Decolonial Expression (CIMADE), NSCAD and Canada Research Chairs Program; SITE/ation Studio, UBCO; and, Manitoba Arts Council.
