Foreshore Immersive
PARTNERS Branscombe House, Blue Cabin, Other Sights
2023
Foreshore Immersive Project Site
Other Sights’ in-depth exploration of water as public space resulted several years of projects engaging with the complex jurisdictions and grey areas of the shoreline, the historical and cultural contexts of our local waterway, and the metaphorical richness of floating as a critical position for artistic exploration.
Foreshore Immersive reflected on The Foreshore, the 2016-17 project led by Other Sights Producer Jen Weih that initiated Other Sights’ multi-year exploration of water as public space. Four years on, the new iteration explored critical ideas and research from artists, writers and thinkers who were/are all working to address the many uncertainties and challenges of our present time.
As the COVID-19 pandemic shifted from an acute global emergency into long-term disease management, Foreshore Immersive surveyed the ever changing conditions of public spaces in this shifted phase in the pandemic, focussed on ongoing urgencies of climate crises, explored ways of applying queer theory to maritime disaster and colonial failure, and celebrated the resurgence of Indigenous-led forms of scholarship and leadership.
This series was hosted in partnership with Branscombe House and the Blue Cabin Floating Artist Residency, the sessions occurred on the unceded lands and waters of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Tswwassen and Kwantlen Nations.
Session I – THE LANGUAGE THE LAND REMEMBERS – Salia Joseph & Faith Sparrow-Crawford from Host Consulting
The Language the Land Remembers spoke to a re-ordering of affairs in our own territory where the Host Team pushes to the front of the line the ways that MST people speak to their territories and the way that the lands speak back. “The centering of the languages that the land remembers, the design forms, the tongues, the belongings we come from that show our families, our lineages, our character. We intend to speak about the creation of Host Consulting on the grounds of celebrating our ways of being on our own territory so that our ancestors are surrounded by what they recognize, so that our littles ones and everyone in between know that they are home. This process requires pushing through decolonization as metaphor, and signaling allyship into something different. A new version of the old and breathing life in the future of our territories.“
Session II – QUEERING THE COAST – Coastal Scholars, Coll Thrush & Natasha Fox
This session asked What might it mean to bring queer perspectives to the places where land and water meet? Coastal Scholars Coll Thrush and Natasha Fox presented past as well as nascent research, discussing their findings and noting how their respective research and writing intersects. Natasha Fox is a postdoctoral scholar with the Cascadia Copes Hub at Oregon State University who applies queer theory and participatory community-engaged research methodologies to her work with LGBTQ2S+ communities living in earthquake and tsunami prone coastlines of Japan and Oregon. Coll Thrush is a historian at the University of British Columbia working on a critical history of shipwrecks in the so-called “Graveyard of the Pacific,” including the potential for applying queer theory to maritime disaster and colonial failure.
Session III – LISTENING TO THE ESTUARY – Fraser Estuary Research Collaborative Scholars – Tirath Dave & Kim St. Pierre
In this session, Fraser Estuary Research Collaborative (FERC) scholars, Tirath Dave and Kim St. Pierre discussed their current Estuary related research and work. Kim St. Pierre was exploring the growing issue of underwater noise pollution and ways to reduce threats and disturbances for endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales, this was a project is supported by the WWF (World Wildlife Fund). Tirath Dave shared the work he completed that was been supported by the Sitka Foundation – a feasibility study and comprehensive map detailing nature-based flood mitigation solutions along the Fraser.
This session will also served as the launch for Fraser Estuary Radio, a 24 hour program of audio curated by FERC Sustainability Scholar Viola Provost that is part of Other Sights’ Currents and Waves Platform. Fraser Estuary Radio explores the critical importance of this waterway in sustaining all life in the region. Playing weekly on Tuesdays, listeners can enjoy the voices of orcas, and migrating birds, hear estuary related interviews, conversations, podcasts, performances, poetry and music. Viola shared her curatorial approach to the project and highlight some special programs to tune into. www.currentsandwaves.ca/FER-about
Session IV – EVERYTHING EXISTS IN DARKNESS – Jen Rae, Claire G. Coleman & Kamara Bell-Wykes
In the search for answers around the climate emergency, everything exists in darkness. It is a matter of shining the torch in the right direction.
Scottish-Métis artist and researcher Jen Rae along with Aboriginal Australian artists Kamara Bell-Wykes and Claire G. Coleman from the Centre for Reworlding offered readings to lead into discussion on time and relationality in the climate emergency context.
Questions explored included: How do we engage with time before the end of time, when all time exists in the same moment? What are the conversations that we are not having now that might aid us, our loved ones and our future ancestors? What are the skills and knowledges at the thresholds of being forever lost, overlooked or undervalued that our future generations may need for survival?