Interview with Byron Samson (Mistikonâpêw) | National Indigenous History Month

2022

In celebration of #NationalIndigenous PeoplesHistoryMonth, we’re pleased to present an interview with Byron Samson (Mistikonâpêw), in which he shared his journey & insight as an Indigenous artist. Byron’s exhibition ‘In Place of Honour’ was at the AGA, featuring several Treaty 6 leaders whom we acknowledge by giving them a place of honour in our communities.In celebration of #NationalIndigenous PeoplesHistoryMonth, we’re pleased to present an interview with Byron Samson (Mistikonâpêw), in which he shared his journey & insight as an Indigenous artist. Byron’s exhibition ‘In Place of Honour’ was at the AGA, featuring several Treaty 6 leaders whom we acknowledge by giving them a place of honour in …

Key moments

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What advice do you have for young indigenous artists?
What advice do you have for young indigenous artists?
0:04

What advice do you have for young indigenous artists?

0:04

What are you hoping people take away from your exhibition?
What are you hoping people take away from your exhibition?
0:36

What are you hoping people take away from your exhibition?

0:36

History is often dominated by male figures, what can you tell us about the women you’ve chosen to honour in this exhibition?
History is often dominated by male figures, what can you tell us about the women you’ve chosen to honour in this exhibition?
1:49

History is often dominated by male figures, what can you tell us about the women you’ve chosen to honour in this exhibition?

1:49

What impact do you want to have on future generations?
What impact do you want to have on future generations?
3:27

What impact do you want to have on future generations?

3:27

So far, your focus has been on portraits, are you planning on branching out or keeping that as your main focus?
So far, your focus has been on portraits, are you planning on branching out or keeping that as your main focus?
3:56

So far, your focus has been on portraits, are you planning on branching out or keeping that as your main focus?

3:56

Autogenerated Transcript from YouTube (if available)

Use CTRL+F to find key words if it is a longer transcript​.

0:06

don’t be afraid to experiment

0:09

[Music]

0:11

follow a lot of other artists but don’t

0:13

copy them

0:15

and expose yourself to

0:18

every type of media you can

0:20

or medium i should say

0:22

every type of medium learn to experiment

0:25

and

0:26

kind of push your own boundaries

0:28

that way you can find your own

0:31

way through

0:33

your own

0:34

art style

0:38

i hope they take away that

0:41

some of the antiquated notions of our

0:43

people

0:45

are outdated

0:47

but also that we’re also a people that

0:49

are expanding within our own culture

0:53

that

0:54

we can be different things

0:56

just like anybody else any other society

0:59

we expand we learn from everybody

1:01

and we can teach others about

1:04

our ways

1:05

so it’s not we’re not uh kind of

1:07

pigeonholed into this one specific

1:10

you know this is our culture and that’s

1:11

it there’s nothing else

1:13

yeah and that’s what i like about

1:15

doing a piece like this is that they

1:17

gave me the freedom

1:19

to include anybody in this that had a

1:22

high place of honor in our community

1:25

well for us that means

1:27

many different things

1:29

to be held in high regard in a community

1:32

it could mean you’re doing certain

1:34

things this way or else you are a

1:36

physical leader like a chief a counselor

1:38

things like that or else you’re just

1:40

like my uncle george who’s an artist

1:43

so yeah we’re definitely expanding and i

1:45

hope

1:45

people take that

1:47

from the show

1:53

the women there

1:54

they are the heart of the community

1:58

they

1:59

without them the community would not be

2:02

anywhere near what it is now

2:05

in any way shape or form

2:07

it starts with the family the mother

2:10

aunts grandmothers passing on stories

2:13

traditions discipline all those types of

2:16

things

2:17

and

2:20

honestly it’s

2:23

it’s a shame that i wasn’t able to

2:25

include more women in this uh in this

2:28

exhibition

2:29

if possible i would like to do one with

2:31

just just women

2:33

because they play such a huge role in

2:36

our our communities definitely

2:45

exhilarating

2:47

nerve-wracking

2:50

and very humbling quite honestly i was

2:52

very humbled when

2:54

mj had called me and

2:57

messaged me on facebook and said she

2:58

wanted to do

3:00

a show with me and

3:03

if she had done that

3:04

say maybe four or five years ago i would

3:07

have said no

3:08

because i wasn’t mentally prepared and i

3:11

would have been like no i can’t do it i

3:12

won’t be able to

3:14

provide what you need

3:16

but thankfully

3:18

i’ve worked on myself and my art and

3:21

i’m at a level where i’m

3:22

more than comfortable i’m quite proud of

3:24

the pieces i do now

3:30

to teach them that art isn’t one thing

3:32

or another

3:34

simply because we are native does not

3:35

mean we simply have to do native art

3:39

that’s one thing i hope to take away

3:41

from this too is that i will just be

3:43

known as an artist who happens to be

3:44

native not a native artist

3:47

because that kind of

3:49

just is just a whole other can of worms

3:52

that we don’t want to get

3:58

into for now it’s my main focus just

4:01

because

4:02

i like the complexity of

4:04

the expressions and the details of every

4:07

individual person

4:09

because not all people are the same

4:12

and you can tell that like details in

4:14

one person’s face is different from

4:16

another and that’s why i keep doing

4:18

portraits is because it’s always

4:19

different

4:20

as opposed to animals i’d hate to say

4:23

this but

4:24

because people love animals

4:26

but a horse will always look like a

4:28

horse

4:30

it’s just quite basic with animals

4:32

and there are little things that

4:35

delineate a person’s pet or whatever for

4:38

animals but the complexity of a human

4:41

face is so much more challenging and

4:43

that’s why i like doing it is knowing

4:45

that i’ve conquered one of the hardest

4:47

things to

4:48

capture

4:56

you

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