Review of Response: Soft Action, a screening at The Polygon Gallery 

"Caring is a verb, which means there's an action associated with it," says kat savard, an emerging poet and filmmaker who recently participated in the second cohort of Response, a collaborative workshop between The Polygon Gallery, Capilano University's First Nations Student Services, and Indigenous Digital Filmmaking Program. 

“The acts of caring that I’m starting to notice now are the really still, calm, quiet ones. Ones that are really intentional. You don’t look like you’re doing much of anything, but what you are doing is this precious, rebellious act, ” says savard. 

The program’s theme, Soft Action, was inspired by a question posed by artist rudy aker during a panel last spring that asked, "How can we move beyond aspiration [to embed care within our institutions] into action?" Nicole Brabant, Assistant Curator at the Polygon, also found inspiration during a panel hosted by Indigenous Curatorial Collective, where John Hampton posed the question of how we can stay soft within our work. "I've been thinking about care and its relationship to action," says Hampton.  

"What landed with me was how important it is to consider and enact care in the program that I'm building," says Brabant. 

In a time of climate disasters, humanitarian crises, racial injustices, reconciliation failures, economic downturn, and political theatre, Response: Soft Action asks us to pause and reflect on conversations about care, ideas of home, explorations of identity and belonging, and how that can translate into action/activism. 

Coming together and holding space for these conversations helps the artists and viewers make sense of the myriad of emotions they have been navigating for the past two years (and even prior), especially between joy and grief. Balancing joy and grief in these times can be tricky, but it is necessary because both are an essential part of survival.

The works are meant to be viewed in four sets, with the first set including artists Michelle Sound, Jordon Davis, and Ghinwa Yassine, who present films connected to intergenerational care. The second set consists of Lilian Rose Smith, Arlene Bowman, and Xinyue Liu, with each of their works touching on ideas of home. Ogheneofegor Obuwoma, Terreane Derrick, and kat savard focus deeply and directly on community and self-care and the kind of care that is sought out when you are far from home. The last set, which includes artists Maura Tamez, Jacqueline Morrisseau-Addison, and Caleb Ellison-Dysart, focuses on reconnecting–sometimes to the self and sometimes to community.

“For me, Soft Action is bīskabiyang. Leanne Betasamosake Simpson describes this as a collective process of ‘returning to ourselves,’” says Jacqueline Morrisseau-Addison.

bīskabiyang is an intimate and poignant ode to (re)connecting to spirit and place after a journey of being (dis)connected. In the telling of bīskabiyang, Morrisseau-Addison uses narrative intimacy and a literary technique called refrain to highlight and conceptualize places where she felt senses of home—her mother’s belly, the body she is growing into, the family she is just meeting, and the land. 

Opening with a scene of her mother mouthing the words, “I love you,”  Morrisseau-Addison uses storytelling to narrate the journey of reconnection while repeating the phrase, “when I think of home,” reinforcing the various definitions of home. Pulling influence from Treaty 4 Territory (her ancestral homeland), she explores the many ways care can influence how we move through the world.

"It's a new understanding of care and the people that it can impact. I hope people see that reconnection is much more than this Western worldview that's imposed on a lot of us, where it encourages us to think only about ourselves," she says. 

Using the evocation of montage, she hopes to stimulate and heighten the viewer's senses, effectively balancing the motions of searching for who you are with the quiet, reflective moments of sitting with the feelings that a journey like this can evoke. She doesn't only want viewers to see her experience but also hopes that the film’s messages can extend to those who need it.

"Being in good relation to communities, non-humans, and the land is something that is not just for Indigenous people. Of course, it's vital to respect those whose territories you're on. Be a good neighbour and guest, and respect their values and ways. But you can extend care too. It just requires a lot of listening and humility."

The themes from Response: Soft Action will be further developed for an online series of dialogues with many of the presenting artists. The conversations will focus on the specific intersections and the four thematic groupings, creating a space for them to come together and share thoughts with the audience. 

Kayla MacInnis is a multidisciplinary Métis storyteller from Misâskwatômina (Saskatoon) residing on Coast Salish territory. Through sharing stories that mix visual arts and the written word, Kayla hopes to inspire people to find different ways to connect with themselves and one another. Follow her on Instagram or visit her website.