Optional Modification in Six Parts
Artist
Edward Poitras
(Canadian, born 1953)
Date2002
Mediumencaustic on plywood
Dimensions245.6 x 739.8 cm
Credit LineThe Mendel Art Gallery Collection at Remai Modern. Purchased with the assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Mendel Art Gallery Foundation and the Gallery Group, 2003.
Object number2003.6.a-f
Classificationspainting
On View
Not on viewIn the first of the six panels panels (as viewed left to right), the incised upper-case letters BILL and the lower-case letters ' t i o n a l M o d i f c a t i o n A c t ' appear to reference Bill C-79, the Indian Act‹Optional Modification Act of 1996, which proposed major changes to the Indian Act among them band governance, natural resources and by-law authority. The majority of First Nations across the country either rejected it outright or felt it to have serious flaws. Many First Nation representatives were also concerned that such legislation might undermine what they believe to be their inherent right to self-government, as well as put other treaty rights at risk. Bill C-79 passed first reading but fell victim to the dissolution of Parliament in April of 1997. Comparable legislation has not been brought forward since that time. The iconography of the work references the area of Southern Saskatchewan encompassed by the Arm River, Last Mountain Lake and the Regina Beach area. This area, once inhabited by First Nations peoples and now strewn with cabins for weekend holiday makers was, and still is, a contested site. From a First Nations perspective, their position is that they were unfairly pressured into signing over the land in question. Poitras' use of screws to designate cabins emphatically critiques the manner in which the First Nation inhabitants of that area were treated. Embedded in the material on the left side we make out, in an area of partially obscured letters, the designation of ' $5, 0 ', which may well be a representation an amount of $5,000.00 paid as an acquisition price. Throughout the multi-paneled work, letters and graphic tracings fail to present a cohesive narrative, suggestive of a history obscured by time. Evident at the top of the work is the form of a snake. Just what meaning is to be ascribed is uncertain but the snake is seen to be a transformative symbol, a representation of change, perhaps sudden. A positive attribution would, within the idea of transcendence, be a representation of wisdom.
