Jaime Black and Lindsay Delaronde live in territories that are far apart. These territories look vastly different, the caregivers of these lands speak different languages, ceremonies and traditions differ. Through the creation of this online project it became clear that Jaime and Lindsay share an understanding of care and connection to the land. The territories they live on, the Lekwungen Territory and Treaty One Territory are the third collaborators in the project.

When Land and Body Merge began with the artists and curator meeting online, and over a two month period creating work through video and writing that allowed them to connect and build a relationship from afar. They worked with the idea of a call and response with Lindsay creating work, and Jaime responding to it, and vice versa.

The relationship Jaime and Lindsay built over two months, is an example of Indigneous womxn understanding each other’s ways, across territories and time. A knowing that is not disrupted by pandemics, that holds true to its core of support and love through time of social upheaval, and has a grounding force.

Jaime and Lindsay are catalysts for spiritual creation through the making of this work, they inspired each other, and are open to anyone who wants to share that space.

Lindsay journeyed through feeling NO SHAME. There is NO SHAME in being vulnerable, there is NO SHAME in strength, there is NO SHAME in allowing your body to be one with the natural world. Shame is not natural, shame does not allow for growth, shame is not in our spirits. Land and body are one.

Jaime responses built on personal ceremonies with the land. Spending time on familiar and unfamiliar lands and waterways allows for differing ways of building intimacy with those spaces. The relationships that we have with the lands and waterways need to be built and fostered, we need to attempt to understand the nuances of these territories, what they provide and what they need.

Jennifer Smith

Jaime Black is a multidisciplinary artist of mixed Anishinaabe and European descent. Black’s art practice engages in themes of memory, identity, place and resistance and is grounded in an understanding of the body and the land as sources of cultural and spiritual knowledge.

My name is Lindsay Katsitsakatste Delaronde, I am a Kanienke’haka woman from Kahnawake. For the past 13 years I have been a grateful, active and contributing guest on Lekwungen territory, Victoria, BC. I hold a Masters degree in Fine Arts and a Master of Arts in the Indigenous Communities Counseling Psychology Program from the University of Victoria. I held the position as the first Indigenous artist in Residence from 2017-2019 and currently a PHD candidate for the Applied Theatre program at UVIC. My areas of research are Contemporary and Traditional First Nations visual art, Indigenous performance and theatre practices, healing arts therapy examining decolonial methodologies in art. My artistic practice focuses on Indigenous theatre, land-based/site-specific performance art, collaborative practice, cultural resurgence and social/political activism through the arts. My artistic media include photography, performance/theatre, movement/dance and visual studio arts.

Jennifer Smith is a Métis curator, writer and arts administrator from Treaty One territory.  She has curated exhibits and video programs for the Manitoba Craft Council, Open City Cinema, MAWA, the Manitoba Crafts Museum and Library, and the Winnipeg Arts Council; in 2018 she was the Indigenous Curator in Residence at aceartinc. 

Miigwetch to Rhayne Vermette who worked as our editor and ensured the vision of the project came together in this video.