all my relations

jaz whitford builds up a spiral at x̱aw̓s shew̓áy̓ New Growth《新生林》 Image Credit: Damaris Riedinger

Part of the x̱aw̓s shew̓áy̓ New Growth《新生林》221A pollinators, Oliver Barnes and jaz whitford have been tending to and caring for the garden since 2019.

all my relations by Oli Barnes and jaz whitford

all my relations
swaying in cool wind
sleeping in damp soil tunnels
and in piss puddle alleys

xʷməθkwəy̓əm
skwxwú7mesh
səl̓ilwətaɁɬ təməxʷ
stolen native land

the downtown eastside
hogan’s alley
china town

walking
burning
crying
Dancing
screaming
sweating
loving

remembering

all of us together
still here
reaching for the sun
reaching for the sun
reaching for the sun

Contributors

Oliver Barnes is an activist, musician, community worker, neighbourhood explorer and avid collaborator currently based on the Unceded Territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. He is not interested in occupying the center and finds value in the often invisible labour of supporting, assisting, and building with those he cares for. As a musician and bandmate, he has toured across Turtle Island and Europe and has performed at festivals such as SXSW, NXNE, CMJ, POP Montreal and Sled Island. Barnes is of mixed Malagasy, Chinese & European ancestry.
jaz is a mixed secwe̓pemc & scottish interdisciplinary artist who embodies anti-professionalism & anti-colonialism as a way to move toward a future where indigenous knowledge and ways of being are not only respected but valued & revered. using a range of materials, forms and mediums they work to investigate and express their lived experience and understanding of spirituality, resistance, ancestral connections, and community care. jaz’s ancestry ties them to cstálen “adams lake” in unceded secwepemcúl’ecw in the southern interior of so-called “british columbia” where they had the privilege of being raised close with the lands and waters within their territories & beyond, and it informs their work expansively. living predominantly on the west coast since 2017, the bulk of their work has bloomed within the traditional territories of the Skwxwú7mesh, Səl̓ílwətaʔ, xʷməθkwəy̓əm, and Stó:lō where they have been overwhelmed with the warmheartedness, & generosity of the host nations and allied communities

Unceded Territory

221A acknowledges that the area called Vancouver is within the unceded Indigenous territories belonging to the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples. 221A recognizes that the colony of British Columbia was created through organized dispossession and colonial violence. 221A seeks to shift its organizational practices to work together with Indigenous people to end ongoing violence, dispossession and displacement.

all my relations

Publication: Imagining new systems of exchange

Contributors

Part of the x̱aw̓s shew̓áy̓ New Growth《新生林》221A pollinators, Oliver Barnes and jaz whitford have been tending to and caring for the garden since 2019.

Archived Activities

Live Stream — Infrastructure & the Back Loop: Christina Battle with Stephanie Wakefield

Live Stream - Introducing 221A's 2021 Fellows

Contributors

Unceded Territory