The Elders Say We Don’t Visit Anymore

Tea, Bannock and Conversation
Saturday, June 18th 1­-3pm

Based on his work with Indigenous youth and elders across Turtle Island, Wiisaakodewini (Métis) artist Dylan Miner has begun to explore the ‘methodology of visiting,’ an Indigenous way of working. While conducting an oral history project with retired Anishinaabe autoworkers, elders shared the idea that “we don’t visit as much as we used to”. Because of urbanization and the necessities of wage labour, not to mention the effects of settler­colonialism, many Indigenous people do not visit one another as frequently.

In response, Miner wondered what it would mean to simply create a time and place to share tea and conversation within the context of the art gallery, museum, or Indigenous community centre. It is here that ‘The Elders Say We Don’t Visit Anymore’ emerges. Through this particular socially engaged artist practice, Miner organizes a tea time where people can stop by to share tea and conversation, creating and maintaining existing social relationships. Those interested in spending time together, sharing tea and conversation, can stop by Gallery Gachet from 1pm­ to 3pm on Saturday, June 18th and tba in August.

Dylan Miner is a Wiisaakodewinini (Métis) educator, writer, historian, and curator, as well as an artist working in multiple media. Presently, Miner is Director of American Indian and Indigenous Studies at Michigan State University, as well as Associate Professor in the university’s Residential College in the Arts and Humanities. A widely published scholar, Miner is a founding member of Justseeds, a graphic arts collective. He earned his PhD from The University of New Mexico and currently lives in East Lansing, Michigan with his wife, Dr. Estrella Torrez, and their two daughters.

This event is held in conjunction with an upcoming exhibition, opening August 5th and running to August 28th. Using traditional plants as a starting point to think about and through community health, this ongoing project investigates Indigenous medicines and other forms of earth­based and non­Western knowledge and healing. Over the summer Dylan Miner will work with community members in the Downtown Eastside as part of this socially-engaged project and resulting exhibition.