Multimedia storytelling centred on growing up Indigenous in the Far West of Canada * meditation4NDNs (with 'NDNs' contemporary code, in a time of disproportionate violence and loss of life, for "Not Dead Natives") is a suite of short videos, to be screened theatrically, outdoors projected from sculptures, and online. These monologues with breathing appropriate and spoof yoga instruction recordings. These NDN 'meditations' are about growing up in the 1960s and 70s on the privileged end of a supportive reserve community that had successfully evicted an abusive Indian day school with elders beginning to take charge. But the world outside that nurturing web of family and relations, was often weird and risky.
Spanning 1959 and 1967, this stark and sometimes playful recollection centres on the school system forcing Native school children to enthusiastically sing, “God Save The Queen” (as a form of ‘abuse’).
Gordon Brent Brochu-Ingram 2024 “nature”
part of a 2023-25 series, meditation4NDNs everybodywelcome
8 minutes 30 seconds (1 channel)
Sometimes playful and sometimes stark reflections of growing up relying on the wilder parts of Indigenous cultural landscapes on southern Vancouver Island..
Gordon Brent Brochu-Ingram 2024 “Orchards”
part of a 2023-25 series, meditation4NDNs everybodywelcome
12 minutes 43 seconds (1 channel)
https://vimeo.com/926072899
A highly personal tribute to the traditional Indigenous fruit trees and orchards of the Gulf Islands of British Columbia, this narrative combines the shift from blossoms to fruit with a celebration of survival in the face of cultural erasure and environmental degradation. This little trees, and the human cultures that have depended on and stewarted them, have survived on these islands for more than 10,000 years.
ḴÁ,EW̱ IL̵Ć [SENĆOŦEN], Qwa’up-ulp [HUL’Q’UMI’NUM’], Pacific crabapple, Malus fusca, ĆUÁN [SENĆOŦEN] / Tl’elhum [HUL’Q’UMI’NUM’] (Salt Spring Island)
SEN,NI,NE,S the island
March 2026
synopsis
When I was in Grade 2, some older boys who were not Indigenous, tricked me on to a raft on the shores of Saanich Inlet. They had the incorrect hope that my presence as a Native person would give them permisson to set foot on SEN,NI,NE,S the island that the W̱SÁNEĆ sometimees use to temporarily to leave dead family members. The island is a sacred and taboo space where traditionally only close family members have been allowed to visit.
Upset that I had been effectively kidnapped, and that a visit to SEN,NI,NE,S could be a great disrespect and ruin my life, I became upset, and kicked the raft. As the raft began to disintegrate, the boys paniced and headed back to shore. Near shore, I ran away. My parents were extremely upset (I hadn’t yet had swimming lessons) and informed W̱JOȽEȽP (Tsartlip) elders. Weeks later those older boys bragged at school that they had visited the island and found and touched bones including skulls. Most likely these individuals never got to the island — at least I hope so.
bug jam 1 memory is included in the
ALL WOVEN TOGETHER GROUP SHOW AND INSTALLATIONS OF NEW INDIGENOUS VIDEO AT POLYGON GALLERY, North Vancouver FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH, 2024
https://thepolygon.ca/exhibition/response-all-woven-together/
RSVP FOR THE MARCH 1 , 2024 Opening celebration
https://thepolygon.ca/event/response-all-woven-together-opening-celebration/
concept
Bug Jam is a 3 channel, 8 minute video combining monologues of three versions of the same story as layered storytelling, Indigenized visuals of nature, and investigations of breath for transmitting childhood emotions. Much of the visuals focus on caterpillars on chokecherry and bitter cherry trees with 15 seconds of a close-up of the same species with a returning butterfly.
Bug jam is the first of 8 video works in a 2024 series entitled, “meditation4NDNs everybodywelcome” (with ‘NDNs’ contemporary code, in a time of continuing, disproportionate violence and loss of life, signifying “Not Dead Natives”) to be screened and projected from sculptures over the course of the spring and summer on the Toronto Islands.
narratives
This is a true story from Grade 6 at Willows Elementary School in Victoria BC. A ten or eleven year old girl comes into the class, is identified as ’60s scoop’ (by my parents while none of the other students have a clue), and she reaches out to me as the only other identifiable Native person in the class. She begins to describe how she has been going door-to-door, playing on the poor Indian girl going door-to-door-selling-stuff trope, in a middle-class area between our homes selling fake jam in mason jars made out of caterpillars in hopes that the buyers will one day open the jars to be surprised and disgusted and then to remember her. She was hoping that I could come along and assist her. Appalled, I slowly become her friend. But soon after, she is gone from school (after perhaps three months in that class) and no one could tell me where she went. I then reflect on how if you kill your young caterpillars, your future butterflies are lost and hope that one of those caterpillars was spared, became a butterfly, and that she flew home. Near the end of the the relatively repetitive (not repeated as I have lots of footage) imagery of writhing caterpillars, a butterfly appears for 10 seconds.
audio storytelling
Dear esteemed project advisors, please rank the three of the ten audio tracks below, that you prefer, indicating the number, the label, and whether it’s your first, second or third choice. The volume at this point is a bit low so best listen on headphones with the final video with higher volumes.
audio #1 ‘slow intro’ audio 2023 October 5
audio #2 ‘survive’ audio 2023 October 12
audio #3 ‘reached out angry’ audio 2023 October 5
audio #4 ‘secret’ audio 2023 October 5
audio #5 ‘anger’ audio 2023 October 5
audio #6 ‘startled’ audio 2023 October 6
audio #7 ‘brave’ audio 2023 October 6
audio #8 ‘poisonous’ audio 2023 October 6
audio #9 ‘despair’ audio 2023 October 8
audio #10 ‘pretending’ audio 2023 October 8
2023 “bug jam (1 memory)”
part of a 2023-25 series, meditation4NDNs everybodywelcome
8 minutes (1 channel of 3 channel installation “bug jam”)
vimeo.com/user29728839/
Gordon Brent Brochu-Ingram 2023 “bug jam 2 power”
part of a 2023-25 series, meditation4NDNs everybodywelcome
8 minutes (1 channel of 3 channel installation “bug jam”)
Gordon Brent Brochu-Ingram 2023 “bug jam 3 escape”
part of a 2023-25 series, meditation4NDNs everybodywelcome
8 minutes (1 channel of 3 channel installation “bug jam”)