Flying to Fish

Here, Jerrold McGrath shares his thinking behind the founding of UKAI Projects: a Canada-based non-profit arts collective that uses a dialogic approach to seek answers to questions that “complicate the assumptions on which society operates.” Jerry starts by sharing with us his introduction to ukai, a fishing practice that inspired, in Jerry, a new way of engaging with knowledge and experience. Initially, his experience of ukai was limited by an unconscious binary of oppositional thinking. Rather than embracing this opportunity to observe, he instantly formed an opinion of what he was experiencing, essentially closing the door on questioning altogether. It is within this vein of curiosity that the arts collective was created. For example, the categorization of creativity is, in and of itself, fungible. To define creativity by a profession like ‘artists’ or ‘creator’ is only so relevant as the systems designed to support these professions. Jerry continues by recalling his study of Little Red Riding Hood and reframes his criticism of tautological thinking by suggesting metaphor is the more powerful tool that helps people interrogate their world and how it is ordered. As he suggests, within the retelling of this one tale, readers observe a cultural evolution of nature-as-villain to man-as-villain to the heteronormative narrative of a man as paternal savior to woman and, finally, to the narrative of self-discovery and determination that it is today. Little Red Riding Hood has lived and died as many times as the people who have told the tale. On that note, Jerry moves onto the significance of studying decay by pointing out how the current Western lens of focusing on growth and expansion narrows our collective vision from seeing what else is possible. Instead, when the focus is on decay, there is an opportunity to plan and appreciate the lifecycle of all things. Death and decay continue to guide much of Jerry’s work and, perhaps, the pandemic shed light on a more macro participation in death and decay that we can all reflect on. For example, the pandemic had us all questioning the role of ceremony as we were restricted from gathering to mourn in the name of public safety. As we elected to allow for these rituals to die, can we reflect on what arose in their wake?