Toronto Biennial of Art Podcast

Short Format: Jeneen Frei Njootli and Tsēmā Igharas

Episode Summary

In this podcast, Jeneen Frei Njootli (Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation) and Ts̱ēmā Igharas (Tahltan First Nation) share how they collaborate with one another through growing friendship and their shared deep connections to the land. In their ongoing collaborative performance "Sinuosity" (2018-2019), the artists engage with ancestral memory, networks of kinship, and communal relations braids within communities and the land. The performance was part of "TELLINGS: A Post-Human Vocal Concert" (2019), co-curated by Maiko Tanaka and Myung-Sun Kim, where artists working experimentally with sound—live electronics, deep listening, sound art—performed compositions that challenge the conceptions of "voice" in terms of its origin and agency. "TELLINGS" was co-presented in partnership with Trinity Square Video and OCAD University Graduate studies. Short Format Series Produced by Aliya Pabani and Angela Shackel.

Episode Notes

In expanding dialogues around the inaugural Toronto Biennial of Art, selected artists discuss their practice and processes in a series of short format podcasts. Interviewed artists and collectives include Adrian Blackwell, Ayumi Goto, Caroline Monnet, Diane Borsato, Isuma, Jeneen Frei Njootli, Life of a Craphead, Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak, Maria Thereza Alves, Syrus Marcus Ware, and Tsēmā Igharas.

Music: Chad Crouch, Feeding Flock (Instrumental) , 2019

Photo: Jeneen Frei Njootli and Ts̱ēmā Igharas, Sinuosity , 2018-2019, image: Yuula Benevolski, courtesy Toronto Biennial of Art.