Adrian Stimson Honours Indigenous Warriors

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Adrian Stimson, "TRENCH," 2017

five-day durational performance on the Siksika (Blackfoot) Nation

Military coordinates – 50° 50' 3" N 113° 4' 22" W – indicate the pivotal location of Adrian Stimson’s latest interdisciplinary performance, TRENCH, created to honour the often-overlooked histories of thousands of Indigenous soldiers in the First World War. Stimson’s compelling durational performance from dawn to dusk for five days, from May 23 to May 27, on land near his familial home in the Siksika (Blackfoot) Nation, about an hour’s drive east of Calgary, was based on his research into conflicts like the 1917 Battle of Vimy Ridge in France. Stimson decided to dig his own trench after learning about the complexity of trench warfare and the visceral physicality of life and death on the front a century ago.

His work is part of the contemporary art contributed to War Stories: 1917, on view until Aug. 27 at Calgary’s Military Museums. The University of Calgary’s Founders’ Gallery, housed in the museum complex, also contributed two other present-day perspectives: Ontario artist Jason Baerg offers a contemporary take on an Indigenous soldier, and Alberta artist Dianne Bos presents photographs of historic battlefields as they appear today. However, TRENCH, one of four performative interventions by Stimson, is a highlight.

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Jason Baerg, "Narrative Bounce", 2012-2017

laser-cut acrylic on wood, size variable, collection of the artist

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Dianne Bos, "Vimy Memorial II,” “Pond Farm Bomb Field” and “Vimy Crater and Sheep, Vimy Ridge” (right to left), 2014

digital photograph on fiber paper, 40"x 40" collection of the artist

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The warm prairie breeze ripples across the grassy plains and the sun burns bright in a cloudless sky as Stimson, guided by First World War manuals, works in a ritualistic and meditative way to dig his trench in the pattern of the Blackfoot symbol of war. Stimson carves out a rectilinear "U" shape to a depth of six feet, shoring it up with 250 sandbags. He also piles the sod to create a second "U", a pattern that can be seen on the painted story robe of legendary First World War veteran Mike Mountain Horse, a Blood from southern Alberta. This symbolic configuration, Stimson says, establishes a continuum of the Blackfoot warrior from the past to the present.

Stimson’s performance refers to other intentional suffering in Blackfoot culture, such as sun dances and spiritual quests that intentionally put the body under duress as a healing process for the community. Thus, his work heralds a renewal, rebirth and regeneration that honours community. Indeed, one of his other contributions, an Honour Song performed with Blackfoot elder Clarence Wolfleg, relates to military roll calls and the celebration of life in Blackfoot culture.

Stimson’s controlled and measured approach against a seemingly peaceful backdrop is in sharp contrast to the horrors of the filthy, chaotic and disease-ridden trenches where countless Canadian soldiers died. This discordant duality – Stimson’s hallmark – draws attention to the absence of presence as well as a troubled colonial history. While the exact number of Indigenous soldiers in the First World War is not known, the federal government estimates that more than 4,000 served. Stimson says the physicality of his project pays homage to them and calls attention to society’s need to remember both the tenets of peace as well as wartime sacrifices made for today’s freedoms.

At dusk on the final day, Stimson lays bare the injustices of war in a visceral and emotive performance set to classical music. Clad in military fatigues, he crawls across the field to the trench, moving through a rousing sequence of choreographed movements punctuated by static poses in a compelling tableau-vivant style that brings to mind the figurative sculptural elements of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France.

By inviting both Indigenous and non-Indigenous guests to witness and share this compelling journey of re-enactment and renewal, Stimson opens an important conversation about a gap in Canadian military history and highlights the need to honour Indigenous lives lost in the First World War.