Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

SIKOOHKOTOK

Date

2023

Materials

BRISTOL, ACRYLIC, INK

No. Pieces

1

Length

76.2

Width

55.8

Description

RECTANGLULAR ARTWORK PAINTED ON BRISTOL. THE BACKGROUND IS MADE OF ACRYLIC PAINTS INCLUDING YELLOW WITH WHITE STENCILED BUFFALOS, BLUE, RED, AND WHITE. FINE RED INK TEXT OF BLACKFOOT WORDS OUTLINE THE BORDERS. “SIKOOHKOTOK” READS ACROSS THE FRONT IN WHITE WITH GREY SHADOWS.

Subjects

ART

Historical Association

FINE ARTS

History

IN 2021, THE CITY OF LETHBRIDGE PUBLIC ART PROGRAM PARTNERED WITH THE RECONCILIATION LETHBRIDGE ADVISORY COMMITTEE AND THE LETHBRIDGE AIRPORT TO PUBLISH A CALL FOR INDIGENOUS ARTISTS TO DESIGN AN "AIRPORT LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND TERRITORY WELCOME" FOR INSTALLATION AT THE LETHBRIDGE AIRPORT. ON JANUARY 20, 2023, CURATOR TYLER STEWART INTERVIEWED MARJIE CROP EARED WOLF PONOKAAKII (ELK WOMAN), REGARDING HER ARTWORK SUBMISSION, DESIGNED FOR THE LETHBRIDGE AIRPORT ART INSTALLATION. THIS PIECE IN THE COLLECTIONS IS THE ORIGINAL. PONOKAAKII CONTINUES, "I … [WROTE] A SHORT PROPOSAL, AND … I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE IMPORTANT TO INCLUDE THE BLACKFOOT NAME THAT WE HAVE FOR LETHBRIDGE [SIKOOHKOTOK], BECAUSE THIS PLACE IS SIGNIFICANT TO US AS BLACKFOOT PEOPLE, AND WE HAVE A DEEP HISTORY HERE, SPECIFICALLY WITH THIS AREA, AND TO LET PEOPLE KNOW THAT IT HAS A BLACKFOOT NAME, AND THERE’S A REASON WHY THERE’S A CITY HERE… THIS PLACE IS KNOWN AS A WINTER CAMP FOR US, AND IT’S ABUNDANT IN WATER RESOURCES WHICH IS WHY IT HAS THE NAME ‘SIKOOHKOTOK’. ‘SIKOOHKOTOK’ IS TALKING ABOUT THE BLACK ROCK, AND THE BLACK ROCK IS WHAT’S KNOWN AS COAL...IT’S SO ABUNDANT HERE THAT IT’S FALLING OUT OF THE RIVERBANK CLIFFS, AND YOU USE THAT FOR FUEL TO HELP US MAKE IT THROUGH THE WINTER… THOSE TYPES OF STORIES, THAT TYPE OF HISTORY AND UNDERSTANDING IS WHERE I WAS COMING FROM IN MY IDEA OF WHY I DEVELOPED [THIS PIECE] THE WAY I DID… I ALSO WANTED TO KEEP THIS WHOLE IDEA OF CONTEMPORARY CONTENT TO IT AS WELL, USING THE GRAFFITI-STYLE OF WRITING THE BLACKFOOT WORD, BECAUSE, IN MY ART PRACTICE I DABBLED WITH IT – THE GRAFFITI TYPE OF ART, AND DOING RESEARCH, AND LEARNING ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THAT STYLE OF ARTWORK. SO, I’M TRYING TO TAKE THINGS I’VE DONE BEFORE, THINGS I’M CURRENTLY DOING, AND THINGS I WANT, AND [AM] WORKING TOWARDS, WITH MY ART PRACTICE – ALL ENCOMPASSED IN ONE KIND OF PIECE… YET LEAVING THE DOOR OPEN FOR COLLABORATION AND NEW IDEAS…WHEN I TALK ABOUT ‘PAST’, I’M TALKING ABOUT THE GRAFFITI STYLE PART OF IT; AND THE ‘PRESENT’, I’M TALKING ABOUT THE SMALL RED TEXT; AND THEN THE ‘FUTURE’ IS … WHERE I’M WORKING TOWARDS GETTING ALL THE FUNDAMENTAL TYPE OF BLACKFOOT ART PRACTICES UNDER MY BELT, BECAUSE I WANT TO CONTINUE WITH THOSE… SO THAT I CAN TRANSFER THEM LATER ON, AND SAFEGUARD THEM, SO THAT THEY’RE NOT EVER LOST WITHIN THE COMMUNITY." PONOKAAKII EXPLAINED SHE WROTE IN THE PROPOSAL THAT SHE WANTED TO HAVE COLLABORATION WITH HER DAUGHTER IN THIS PROJECT. SHE EXPANDS ON THIS: “… [MY DAUGHTER’S] BIG PUSH WAS … TO INCORPORATE THESE THINGS THAT I’VE ALWAYS TALKED TO HER ABOUT - THESE TWO STREAMS OF BLACKFOOT ART … ONE OF THEM IS THE PICTOGRAPH, AND ONE OF THEM IS THE GEOMETRIC DESIGN, AND THEY BOTH EXIST SEPARATELY… A LOT OF THE TIME THE GEOMETRIC IS FOR ADORNMENT OF ITEMS AND SELF, AND THE PICTOGRAPH IS MORE LIKE A SELF-PORTRAITURE, IS HOW I SEE IT… GEOMETRIC IS A LITTLE HARDER TO READ, BUT IF YOU KNOW, AND YOU ARE FAMILIAR, THEN YOU CAN UNDERSTAND WHAT THAT IS ... THE IDEA OF THESE TWO DIAMOND-TYPE SHAPES COMING TOGETHER, HOW I UNDERSTAND IT IS OF TWO NATIONS COMING TOGETHER FOR PEACE, AND TREATY, AND SO THAT’S WHY THERE’S THE BIG YELLOW IN THE CENTER AND THEN ‘SIKOOHKOTOK’ ACROSS THE CENTER, AND THEN THE INCLUSION OF THE BUFFALO, BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT HAS SUSTAINED US SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL, TO EXIST WITHIN THIS TERRITORY… ORIGINALLY, I HAD JUST HAD THE GEOMETRIC, AND [MY DAUGHTER SAID], ‘YOU’RE ALWAYS TALKING ABOUT THE TWO. WHERE’S THE OTHER ONE?’ … AND SO, WE STARTED TALKING, AND I’M LIKE, ‘YOU KNOW, YOU’RE RIGHT. I’M SO GLAD YOU’RE HERE.’ SHE’S IN THERE. HER CONTRIBUTIONS ARE IN THERE.” WHEN ASKED ABOUT SPECIFIC DESIGN CHOICES AND COLOR PALETTES, PONOKAAKII STATES HER REASONING: “THE COLOR PALETTE I’VE COME TO RELY ON A LOT OF THE TIME IS WHAT TWENTIETH CENTURY ART REFERS TO AS THE PRIMARY COLOR[S], BUT IN BLACKFOOT, THEY ARE HOLY. WE HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH THESE COLORS... THAT’S WHY I UTILIZE THEM SO MUCH. THE YELLOW, FOR ME, IS SIGNIFICANT BECAUSE OF WHAT I CARRY WITHIN MY COMMUNITY… OUT OF THE TWO, THE RED AND THE YELLOW. THE BLUE IS MORE, FOR LACK OF A BETTER WORD, ‘HOLY’ AND BECAUSE OF THAT, I DIDN’T FEEL COMFORTABLE GOING THAT SCALE WITH IT JUST YET… [AND] USING IT IN PLACE OF THE YELLOW, BUT I THOUGHT IT WAS TOO IMPORTANT NOT TO INCLUDE, I NEEDED TO MAKE SURE THAT I TRIED TO STICK TRUE TO A LOT OF THE LESSONS THAT WERE GIVEN TO ME, AND THAT’S WHY I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE IMPORTANT TO MAKE ... A STENCIL, AND THEN JUST RE-USE IT… IN MAKING IT THE IINNII ON THE IMAGE. I COULD HAVE EASILY FREEHANDED IT AS WELL, BUT THEN I WAS ALSO...LEANING TOWARDS A … ‘CLEAN’ LOOK TO IT... IT’S ALMOST LIKE A ’POP’, ‘POP’, ‘POP’ KIND OF ART.” IN REGARD TO THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BORDER OF FINELY PRINTED RED TEXT IN BLACKFOOT, MARJIE ADDED, “IT’S ALMOST LIKE BRINGING LANGUAGE BACK INTO THIS SPACE OF SIKOOHKOTOK… AND ACKNOWLEDGING THAT IT IS WITHIN THE TERRITORY. [THE RED TEXT ARE] WORDS THAT ARE TAKEN FROM THE [BLACKFOOT] DICTIONARY, OR WORDS THAT TIE INTO THIS AREA, AND THEY’RE WRITTEN ALONG THE EDGE… SOME OF THEM HAVE TO DO WITH PLANT LIFE THAT’S FOUND IN THIS AREA. THERE [ARE] CERTAIN THINGS THAT ARE ABUNDANT IN [SIKOOHKOTOK] … SO, I WANTED TO INCLUDE THE NAMES OF PLANTS, ANIMALS, THINGS THAT ARE SIGNIFICANT, AND ABUNDANT, IN THIS AREA, AND NAME THEM. NOT ONLY THAT, BUT CONTEMPORARY BLACKFOOT WORDS THAT WE’VE DEVELOPED THROUGH OUR EXISTENCE NOW, WITH THE NEWCOMERS, BECAUSE OUR LANGUAGE IS NOT STAGNANT. IT CAN ALWAYS EVOLVE, AS I UNDERSTAND IT. BLACKFOOT IS ‘DESCRIPTIVE’. IF THERE’S NEW THINGS BEING INTRODUCED, THEN NEW WORDS ARE MADE, AND SOME OF THOSE NEW WORDS I’VE TAKEN, AND INCLUDED THEM IN THIS PIECE AS WELL." MARJIE EXPLAINS WHAT HER FEELINGS ARE WHEN IT COMES TO THE AUDIENCE VIEWING HER WORK: “... A LOT OF THE TIME YOU DON’T NEED TO CONTINUE TO FACILITATE TO THE AUDIENCE WHAT [AN ARTWORK] IS … I DON’T FEEL THAT I OWE AN EXPLANATION FURTHER THAN YOU KNOWING WHERE I STAND, AND THIS IS MY ART; AND I DON’T FEEL I NEED TO HOLD YOUR HAND...EITHER YOU APPRECIATE IT FOR WHAT IT IS, OR YOU DON’T, AND THAT’S FINE…" PONOKAAKII'S PIECE, “SIKOOHKOTOK,” WAS ENLARGED AND INSTALLED IN THE PERMANENT EXHIBIT OF DISCOVERY HALL AT THE GALT MUSEUM & ARCHIVES IN 2022. PONOKAAKII EXPLAINS HOW SHE FEELS TO HAVE THIS ARTWORK AS A PERMANENT INSTALLATION IN THE MUSEUM AND HER HOPE WITH HER ART: “I FEEL HONORED … MY EXPERIENCE, AS A YOUTH COMING TO [THIS] CITY, WAS MUCH DIFFERENT THAN HOW IT IS FOR MY CHILDREN. THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE OF MY COMMUNITY, OR MYSELF, REFLECTED BACK TO ME, WITHIN AN AREA THAT I KNEW HAD SIGNIFICANCE TO US. AND SO, MY HOPE IS THAT, WITH A LOT OF THE ART THAT I DO, AND THIS PIECE, THAT CAN CHANGE THAT IDEA, FOR PEOPLE THAT COME INTO THIS SPACE ... FOR IT TO BE ENJOYABLE – MAKE THEM HAPPY, PROUD, OR ... FEELING ACKNOWLEDGED, WELCOMED, COMFORTABLE.” FOR MORE INFORMATION INCLUDING THE FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTION, PLEASE SEE THE PERMANENT FILE P20230002000-GA.

Catalogue Number

P20230002000

Acquisition Date

2023-01

Collection

Museum

Less detail