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TREE MUSEUM
PUBLICATIONS
PRINTED MATTER & DOWNLOADS
DOING POLITICS WITH
CITIZEN ART
FAWN DAPHNE PLESSNER, 2022
"This is a wonderfully original book that will be a must-read for anyone interested in the under-explored relationship between art and citizenship. By interrogating citizenship from the perspective of activist and social art practices, Plessner entirely reframes our understandings of both citizenship and art, bringing to light the incipient nature of both, and pushing artists and scholars to consider how new models of citizenship can move beyond statist and cosmopolitan imaginaries. [...] If you want to understand how art can generate new dialogues that promote spaces for social transformation, then you need to read this book!"
Reviewer: Dr. Bernadette Buckley, Convenor of MA Art and Politics, Goldsmiths, University of London
FOR MORE INFO: ROMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS
TREE MUSEUM
CITIZEN ARTIST NEWS:
KINSHIP
SPECIAL EDITION, 2019
Citizen Artist News: Kinship was an intervention in the form of a printed newspaper, sent to all residents on Pender Island, BC, Canada, in the autumn of 2019. It was produced in collaboration with the Coast Salish artist Doug LaFortune (whose illustrations are featured throughout the publication), and his wife Kathy. The newspaper invited residents to participate in a community 'thought experiment' that troubled the pervasive colonial conception of trees and animal beings as 'resources'. Residents were introduced to a more complex world view of non-human beings as kin relations, drawing attention to interdependencies and responsibilities to other forms of life. The newspaper features WSÁNEĆ stories by (present and past) members of Tsawout and Tsartlip First Nations. These stories are accompanied by an interview with Robert Clifford (Tsawout FN) on the ethical and relational aspects of cosmological stories that in part, form the foundation for and principles of WSÁNEĆ Law. The newspaper was also distributed through Tsawout FN Band Office, WSÁNEĆ School Board, UVIC First Peoples' House.
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CITIZEN ARTIST NEWS:
CLOUDED TITLE
SPECIAL EDITION, 2018
Citizen Artist News: Clouded Title was the first newspaper intervention circulated on Pender Island, BC, Canada. It invited residents of the island to participate in a community 'thought experiment' and to reflect on the implications of (purportedly) 'owning' land on the unceded territory of the WSÁNEĆ First Nation People. The newspaper detailed the (historical and current) claims of the Douglas Treaty: North Saanich, comparing its text with a WSÁNEĆ origin story of the birth of the islands. Each claim and phrase of the Treaty is examined and critiqued through writings by WSÁNEĆ and other First Nation authors. The newspaper also troubled the very notion of 'owning' (possessing, commodifying) land through an analysis by Robert Clifford (Tsawout FN) of the origin story, highlighting the nature of reciprocal relations and responsibilities to non-human ancestral kin within WSÁNEĆ Law. A special thanks to Earl Claxton Jr. (Tsawout FN) for his advice and guidance in the development of the publication.
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CITIZEN ARTIST NEWS:
THE UNIVERSITY AS A BORDER REGIME
SPECIAL EDITION, 2013
This special edition newspaper does not especially relate to the objectives of the Tree Museum, but is included here as it was the first in this series of art interventions in the form of a newspaper. It was developed in London, UK, to make visible the transformation of the university into a border regime and was distributed to university campuses throughout central London. In 2012, all UK universities were required to monitor the presence of International students on behalf of the Home Office. The art project therefore questioned the notion of a university as a place of equality and mobility by showing how, inside the system, identities vary and barriers and boundaries exist. The aim of the publication was to draw out the janus-faced character of the university as, on the one hand, valorizing the utopic vision of education as democratic and egalitarian and on the other, as a space that reiterates discrimination.
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PENDER POD
POSTERS, 2020
PENDER POD is an environmental activist group on Pender Island. As they say, their aim is to "defend nature in the face of impending climate crisis, corporate greed and governmental corruption and are working toward a future that is just, safe and sustainable for future generations."
In the summer of 2020, a series of posters were created for Pod that highlight the imminent demise of herring, salmon and the Southern Resident Killer Whales within the Salish Sea. The posters feature illustrations by the artist Doug Lafortune (Tsawout First Nation). For further information go to penderpod.ca
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