x: the meeting place makes the spine

When opened, this multi-part accordion book produces an X that echoes the spaces where Indigenous sovereignties intersect with the necessary activation of settler responsibilities in relation to place. It results from an ongoing collaborative relationship between artist-scholars Peter Morin (Tahltan Nation/French-Canadian ancestry) and Leah Decter (Ashkenazi Jewish white settler). The book is a record of virtual performances in which Peter reads Tahltan stories translated by white anthropologist James Teit, while Leah draws Tahltan territory from Peter’s family photos.

From the book’s final page,

These stories were written down
in the English language,
These stories would have been
spoken in the Tahltan language.
They were told to an
anthropologist who is not from the community.
The original storytellers
trusted that person
to do something.”