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Sonny Assu on his exhibit ‘We Come to Witness,’ on now at Vancouver Art Gallery.

The Tyee republished the Megaphone article about my work.

#sonnyassu #startrek #indigenous #firstnations #vancouver #vancouverartgallery #equinoxgallery

Yeah... shit's about to go sideways. I'll take you to Amerind. You'll like it, looks like home., 2016

Yeah... shit's about to go sideways. I'll take you to Amerind. You'll like it, looks like home., 2016 Digital intervention on an Emily Carr Painting (Cape Mudge: An Indian Family with Totem Pole, 1912)

This is an intervention that draws upon my appreciation of Star Trek and the love of understanding my culture and family history. Emily Carr’s Cape Mudge: An Indian Family with Totem Pole is a painting of my home village, and that of my grandfather and his grandfather, Chief Billy Assu. As with What a Great Spot for a Walmart! (2014), the personal connection I have to the source material for this work has made this intervention particularly satisfying.

There have been a few episodes in the Star Trek canon that have appropriated “Native American” life, culture and, most notably, stereotypes of Indigenous cultures. A number of these storylines include an extraterrestrial visit to Earth, where the aliens have intervened with or removed the Indigenous people from the land.

In the early 20th century, Chief Billy Assu, in the name of progress, urged his people to maintain traditional values yet adopt colonial ways to provide a better future for our people. Perhaps he felt adoption was better than assimilation? To that end, he destroyed the longhouses in the village of Cape Mudge, dragging them out to sea using a steam-donkey attached to a barge. Where longhouses once stood, you’ll now find single-family homes.

In the episode “The Paradise Syndrome” (1968), from Star Trek: The Original Series, the USS Enterprise crew lands on a planet that is seemingly inhabited by Native Americans. Spock is able to decipher the writing on an obelisk that protects the planet, and he discovers that a group of well-meaning aliens—known as the Preservers—removed these Native Americans from Earth, transporting them, along with everything they were familiar with, to a planet halfway across the galaxy. There, these people were able to flourish, never having known the effects of colonization.

#firstnations #indigenous #startrek #contemporaryart

John Bennett Herrington (born September 14, 1958 in Chickasaw Nation) is a retired United States Naval Aviator and former NASA astronaut. In 2002, Herrington became the first enrolled member of a Native American tribe to fly in space.

#first nations #nasa #native american

Kirk loses his memory and joins the descendants of a tribe of Native Americans. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down into an idyllic location next to a lake on the planet Amerind, reminiscent of the American Pacific Coast. Kirk remarks on the "duplication" of the planet's evolution as compared to Earth, while McCoy notes the beauty of the flora.

The away team only has thirty minutes to explore the surface before a giant astroid levels the planet. As they are leaving, they spot an indigenous village. So now they have to save the planet. According to Spock, the villages seem to be similar to Native American tribes from earth. According to him, a "a mixture of Navajo, Mohican, and Delaware" characteristics. Kirk likens it to discovering a mythical lost society, like Atlantis or Shangri-La. McCoy probably grumbles something about medicine men.

#star trek #native americans #first nations #indigenous

from my Intervention on the Imaginary series. A riff on Star Trek’s “Scotty, Beam Me Up!”

They're Coming! Quick! I have a better hiding place for you. Dorvan V, you'll love it.. Digital Intervention on an A.Y. Jackson Painting (Kispayaks Village, 1927) 30x38" 2015

From Interventions on the Imaginary. “They're Coming! Quick! I have a better hiding place for you. Dorvan V, you'll love it” was inspired by Star Trek: The Next Generation’s “Journey’s End” episode.

Tell Chakotay that we'll brb. Digital intervention on a James Everett Stuart Painting (Extreme End of Indian Town, Sitka, 1981) 40.5 x 22.5 2014

From Interventions on the Imaginary. “Tell Chakotay that we’ll brb” was inspired by Star Trek: Voyager’s “Tattoo” episode.

#star trek #first nations #indigenous #native american

Chakotay investigates mysterious symbols and visions that are remarkably similar to one of his childhood experiences. Commander Chakotay and an away team are investigating some polyferranide deposits on an uninhabited moon when Tuvok discovers an unusual symbol in the remains of a long-dead campfire. This symbol sparks a flashback in Chakotay, returning him to a memory of a childhood camping trip in Central America with his father, Kolopak. The young Chakotay sees the same symbol carved into...

#star trek #indigenous #first nations #native american

While visiting the Enterprise, Wesley Crusher protests the removal of Native Americans from a planet ceded to the Cardassians. As a result of a long-disputed treaty with the Cardassians, the Federation has agreed to return several planets to Cardassian control. One such planet, Dorvan V, is inhabited by the descendants of Native Americans. They do not wish to leave their new home, which they had spent many years searching for.

#star trek #first nations #indigenous #native american

Anthwara was the leader of the Tribal Council for the Native American society on Dorvan V. His grandfather was Katowa who led his people from Earth to search for a new home. Anthwara brought his people to the planet because he believed that the trees and wind and the rest of nature welcomed them. They had been there for twenty years when the Federation ceded the planet to the Cardassians in the treaty of 2370. Anthwara refused to remove his people from the planet. Captain Jean-Luc Picard...

Anthwara, a descendant of the Native Americans who left earth (in Star Trek’s fictional past) as they were tired of the colonial bullshit. He says that when he arrived on Dorvan V, “the mountains and the rivers welcomed him.”

#star trek #first nations #indigenous #native american

Lakanta was apparently a tribal member of the Native American civilization on Dorvan V. In 2370, he approached Wesley Crusher, whose spirit was troubled as to his future. Lakanta told Wesley that he saw Wesley in a vision quest that he performed and had been waiting two years to meet him. Lakanta told him that he could provide answers to his questions. He took Crusher to a habak, a traditional Indian place where one could begin a vision quest. Crusher met his deceased father in his vision...

Played by Tom Jackson, Lakanta was a Native American medicine man, living on Dorvan V. He guided Wesley Crusher through an ancient ceremony and eventual relieved himself to be the “Traveller”, a space and time-travelling being.

#star trek #indigenous #first nations #native american

"Sky Spirits" was the name given by the Native American tribe known as the Rubber Tree People to a race of aliens from the Delta Quadrant who visited Earth around 43,000 BC, imparting a genetic bonding to ancient Humans and giving rise to many Native American tribes. They appeared to have been warp-capable, visiting other worlds, and used power sources emitting EM readings. They also appeared to have been capable of changing meteorological conditions dramatically to create storms with...

White [Alien] saviour complex.

#star trek #firstnations #native american #indigenous

"Inheritors" was the name given to a small group of Human nomadic hunters who lived around 43,000 BC, by an alien race they would later honor as "the Sky Spirits". These people had no spoken language, or culture, except for the use of fire and stone weapons. However, they held a respect for the land, and for other living creatures, that impressed the sky Spirits. Because of this, the Sky Spirits decided to gift them with a genetic bonding so they might thrive and protect their planet.

#star trek #firstnations #indigenous #native american

Amerind was an inhabited planet half a galaxy away from Earth, which was nonetheless discovered in the 23rd century to contain settlements of pre-warp Humans. Various species of Earth flora were also transplanted on the planet. Examples of this flora included pine trees, honeysuckles, and orange blossoms. (TOS: "The Paradise Syndrome") Some centuries before 2268, several threatened tribes, including a mixture of Navajo, Mohican, and Delaware Native American's, were transplanted from Earth to...

A group of “aliens” named the “Wise Ones” forcibly removed a group of Native Americans and moved them to a planet across the galaxy.

#star trek #indigenous #first nations #native american

Ensign Dawson Walking Bear was a 23rd century Human Starfleet officer who was descended from the Comanche, a Native American tribe. He was the scholar of many of the peoples, especially his own, of Earth history. In 2270, he was the relief helmsman aboard the USS Enterprise and was the first to recognize the Kukulkan that was encountered by the Enterprise in 2270. (TAS: "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth") External link Dawson Walking Bear at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works

#star trek #indigenous #first nations #native american

Salish was the medicine chief among the tribe of American Indians who lived on the planet Amerind. As medicine man, Salish was bound to marry Miramanee, the tribal priestess, in accordance to their tribal custom. In 2268, he was the most outspoken against Kirok being the god the Wise Ones promised would come to protect them from the asteroid that threatened their planet. Salish lost his position as medicine man, and subsequently Miramanee, to Kirok, following Kirok's miraculous resuscitation...

#star trek #indigenous #first nations #native american

All Along The Watchtower, 2015 For the YVR Art Foundation’s upcoming auction

Sonny Assu’s exploration of abstraction and relationships to pop culture is a driving force behind this drum. Composed by Bob Dylan, made famous by Jimi Hendrix, the song "All Along The Watchtower" strikes a particular cord with fans of the popular television series Battlestar Galactica (BSG). The drum's minimal design and colour palette highlights its skin's unique texture, and the central 3D element is meant to invoke motion - in this case, "Faster Than Light" (FTL) travel, which is part of the BSG canon. The pop-culture narrative behind "All Along The Watchtower" is in reference to the series finale of BSG. The character Starbuck needs to engage the ship’s FTL drive to "jump” to seemingly unknown coordinates, which are based on the notes from the song itself. Her leap of faith unknowingly steers the haggard crew to a “pre-historic” Earth, ultimately saving the fate of humanity.

This is the third drum painting in a new series that explores the use of 3D formline elements. First used in Interventions On The Imaginary, the 3D forms used by Assu are meant to invoke the notion of an extraterrestrial visit. This theory was inspired by petroglyphs found near his home village of Cape Mudge. “To me," he says of the petroglyphs, “they look like aliens.”. Assu speculates, through this new painting series, and Interventions On The Imaginary, that the First Peoples were visited by aliens at some point in the past.

"Which, if you’ve seen the final episode of BSG," he says, “will blow your mind a little."

#sonnyassu #yvraf #firstnations #painting #drum #bsg

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