Four Faces of the Moon is a multi-media installation that provides a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the elaborate sets, puppets, and props created for the new stop motion animated film by the same name. The story is told in four chapters, which explore the reclamation of language and Nationhood, and peel back the layers of Canada’s colonial history.
A personal story told through the eyes of director and writer Amanda Strong, as she connects the oral and written history of her family as well as the history of the Michif (Métis), Cree and Anishinaabe people and their cultural ties to the buffalo. Canada’s extermination agenda of the buffalo isn’t recorded as fervently as it was in the United States, yet the same tactics were used north of the border to control the original inhabitants of the land. This story seeks to uncover some of that history and establish the importance of cultural practice, resistance and language revival from a personal perspective.
Artistic collaborators include: Bracken Hanuse Corlett, Raven John, Femke van Delft, Chloe Bluebird, Dora Cepic, Dusty Hagerud, William Weird, Daniel Guay, Lydia Brown, Terrance Azzuolo, Callum Paterson, Tim Daniel, Joce Weird, Ian Nakamoto, Lynn Dana Wilton, Zed Alexander, Danielle Wilson, Damien Buddy Eaglebear, Colour Sound Lab Studio, Boldly Creative, Outpost Media and Menalon Music, along with the support of many others.
ARTIST BIO
Amanda Strong is an Indigenous filmmaker, media artist and stop motion director currently based out of the unceded Coast Salish territory also known as Vancouver. She is the owner and director of Spotted Fawn Productions, an animation and media-based studio creating short films, commercial projects and workshops. A labour of love, Amanda’s productions collaborate with a diverse and talented group of artists putting emphasis on support and training women and Indigenous artists.
Amanda’s work explores ideas of blood memory and Indigenous ideology. Her background in photography, illustration and media extend into her award-winning stop motion animations. Her films Indigo and Mia’ challenge conventional structures of storytelling in cinema and have screened internationally, most notably at Cannes, TIFF, VIFF, and Ottawa International Animation Festival. Amanda has received numerous grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council and the NFB. In 2013, Amanda was the recipient of the K.M. Hunter Artist Award for Film and Video, and most recently the recipient of the Vancouver Mayors Arts Awards for Emerging Film and Media Artist. Amanda is currently working on her latest short animation Four Faces of the Moon for CBC Short Docs. The story is told in four chapters, exploring the reclamation of language and Nationhood, while peeling back the layers of Canada’s colonial history, revealing Canada’s extermination agenda on the buffalo.
Four Faces of the Moon is made possible with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, CBC, Telus, BC Arts Council, Creative BC, Ontario Arts Council and the NFB Filmmakers Assistance Program.
LINKS
> Purchase the exhibition catalogue online in our GIFT SHOP
> Check out this timelapse video of the Four Faces of the Moon installation process, filmed by our wonderful volunteers Rosalina Cerritos and Jaime Torres:
***WE ARE EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE the addition of a live audio-visual performance to the Four Faces of the Moon exhibition opening night on July 21st at grunt gallery. At 8pm Mob Bounce will be performing a half-hour set and they will be joined by media artist Bracken Hanuse Corlett.
Craig Frank Eades aka the Northwest Kid and Travis Hebert aka Heebz the Earthchild formed Mob Bounce in 2010 and they have been touring the country ever since. With their conscious message, dynamic style, and powerful sound steeped in Indigenous oral tradition, they are part of a new generation of artists pushing forward while respecting their roots and culture. They recently released their EP Mob Medicine and a short documentary about them was also released under the same title.
Mob Medicine EP review and Download