An Indigenous Matriarchs Response to: Kiinalik: These Sharp Tools

afloat the atmosphere

i'm submerged into the north

strung into the ice

a cold ignited peace

with bellowing voices of Matriarchs

embodying their Ancestral power

the colonial in me

starts to melt away

in the early moments

i feel someone grasp my left hand

I came alone

no seat to my left

a hand grazes my face

breath

they are here

we dive in together

the slick black floor

seals out those unable to

sea

the animals

their nuanced presence

in body

their furry feet

a rapture of vagas connectivity

it will unnerve

the colonists

relentlessness of the white

perishing on crossings

of culture

of ignorance

starving on lands of plenty

we travel through ice

through the sounds of their lands

times of their bloodlines

I float inside the generous invitation

their instrumental

feminine offers

are nourishing

me back to life

the Ancestors touch my face

again

reminding me of their lives

their boundless offers

I feel undeniable

Indigenous love

embodied

adoration afflicted

deeply affected

into my bones

first contact

an alchemy that displaces us all

a fusion

we cannot return from

our interconnectivity

now baked into the ice

with the bodies and spirits

of both our Ancestors

conflicted irreconcilable pain

embody clouded impurities

course down my face

sounds

scenes

notes

reminders

presence

the tide

the ice

the cold

a sustained presence

of humbled impermanence

uaajeerneq

is here

and sucks out the shame

i delight

time breaks

chilling distillations of oneness

a savage reckoning

mass constellations of inversions of power

a joyous cosmology

too rarely visited

i

breathe the medicine

into my bloodlines

one day she will thaw

and be ingested by

future ancestors

into the deep

red

the place colonization

can never get to

i lock it

there forever

i bear witness

Kiinalik

your tools are sharp

cutting pathways of

protest

reclamation and

resurgence

our timeless

children are being fed

so thoughtfully

dearly

moving

a glacier feat

immersive power

your Ancestors are proud

mine are too

one more squeeze of the left hand

i smile

i feel safe

i exist in a new space

transformed

time circles in

lights shift

we sit

worlds crack

the ice block

breaks

into the audience

from that new intimate place

the Ancestors say

ᐅᓐᓄᓴᒃᑯᑦ

with de-colonial love

kim.

p.s you can buy tickets (if there are any left) here.

Photo: Jeremy Mimnagh

WRITERS, PERFORMERS Evalyn Parry and Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory

CREATORS Evalyn Parry, Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory, Erin Brubacher and Elysha Poirier with Cris Derksen

DIRECTOR Erin Brubacher

LIVE VIDEO Elysha Poirier

ORIGINAL COMPOSITION AND LIVE MUSIC Cris Derksen and Evalyn Parry

SOUND Aleda Deroche

LIGHTING DESIGN Rebecca Picherack

SET DESIGN Kaitlin Hickey CREATED IN Buddies Residency Program