0:00:29.615,0:00:31.433
[Brian Jungen][br]I didn't grow up on the coast.

0:00:31.433,0:00:37.421
I really like being by the ocean. But I like to go[br]visit it and then go away again.

0:00:38.460,0:00:43.800
When I lived on the coast, I[br]was very influenced by the artwork of the First Nations

0:00:43.800,0:00:49.559
on the coast,[br]and I was interested in how something

0:00:49.559,0:00:55.680
very specific[br]like the coastal motifs and imagery

0:00:55.680,0:01:03.320
move to being something that was really[br]associated with the whole province

0:01:05.339,0:01:11.107
I had heard that the last killer whale I[br]was leaving the Vancouver Aquarium so I wanted to go film her then

0:01:11.107,0:01:15.314
and that's when I kind of stumbled [br]upon what used to be a big industry,

0:01:15.314,0:01:18.768
the whaling industry on the[br]west coast.

0:01:19.299,0:01:26.401
The imagery of the whale was pretty widespread[br]widespread across Maritime native cultures.

0:01:34.380,0:01:38.759
When I made the first one, all[br]that kind came together

0:01:38.759,0:01:43.774
working with those chairs I left enough[br]clues that people could tell what they were.

0:01:45.853,0:01:48.180
You can buy those chairs[br]anywhere,

0:01:48.180,0:01:49.664
and they're cheap.

0:01:51.899,0:01:56.759
Kind of switch that happens,[br]the spark, right,

0:01:56.759,0:01:59.217
that gets people interested.

0:02:04.734,0:02:15.476
♪ ♪

0:02:16.680,0:02:21.900
If you ask any Native Indian[br]person "Where are you from?"

0:02:21.900,0:02:25.928
they wouldn't really say the[br]city they happened to be living in.

0:02:25.928,0:02:31.003
They would say where their[br]blood relations are.

0:02:31.379,0:02:37.166
I'm Dane-zaa, so that is a[br]very specific part of the country.

0:02:40.140,0:02:44.280
But I moved to Vancouver when[br]I was 18 to go to art school,

0:02:44.280,0:02:47.800
and that was the first time I lived in a[br]city.

0:02:50.565,0:02:52.800
I love the opportunities and the culture

0:02:52.800,0:02:59.641
around you when you're in a city, but[br]I prefer to live out here.

0:03:01.560,0:03:05.067
It's nice to see all this sage[br]blooming, eh?

0:03:15.780,0:03:20.010
My childhood was spent on a[br]really large cattle ranch,

0:03:21.735,0:03:23.940
so when I was a little kid,

0:03:24.117,0:03:28.800
I would spend a lot of time out in the[br]forest with the dogs.

0:03:28.800,0:03:31.542
They were kind of like my[br]guardians.

0:03:32.736,0:03:34.498
Ed's a northern Alberta mutt.

0:03:35.700,0:03:38.582
He's the boss of this place in[br]some ways.

0:03:38.582,0:03:42.023
Like, we all listen to Ed.

0:03:43.860,0:03:48.051
So, yeah, that's across the[br]road there, those pastures are part of the property

0:03:48.404,0:03:53.306
and up there on the hillside and up there, too.

0:03:54.540,0:03:57.131
My ancestors were promised[br]they could

0:03:57.131,0:04:02.402
either live on reserve, or[br]they would be given land,

0:04:03.234,0:04:04.866
but none of it was honored.

0:04:05.949,0:04:17.729
♪ ♪

0:04:24.617,0:04:28.231
When I started working with[br]shoes in the nineties,

0:04:28.740,0:04:31.234
I went into Niketown.

0:04:31.831,0:04:35.313
They had sneakers of theirs in[br]glass vitrines,

0:04:35.313,0:04:37.619
and I thought that was so[br]strange.

0:04:38.880,0:04:44.280
I started to make connections between[br]the commodification of those shoes and

0:04:44.280,0:04:47.122
the same thing that's happened to Native art.

0:04:49.620,0:04:53.580
And then there was just kind[br]of a strange coincidence that the color

0:04:53.580,0:04:58.484
schemes and designs look very similar to[br]Northwest Coast masks

0:05:00.180,0:05:05.580
There was this kind of illicit[br]thrill I got by buying these Air Jordans and, like,

0:05:05.580,0:05:09.300
immediately starting to cut them up [br]and stuff.

0:05:09.300,0:05:13.139
So, yeah, and that was my[br]first kind of foray

0:05:13.139,0:05:16.362
into making objects.

0:05:18.684,0:05:21.274
[chains rattling]

0:05:22.157,0:05:23.287
- Tch, tch.

0:05:26.758,0:05:30.080
I'm a pretty quiet person.

0:05:30.537,0:05:34.880
I was kind of raised around cowboy culture, so[br]there's a lot of aggression

0:05:34.880,0:05:39.525
but it's not really how I approach the[br]world.

0:05:39.835,0:05:42.360
- That's right. Attaboy.

0:05:42.360,0:05:46.979
So I didn't have much access to culture[br]growing up in the north, so I had,

0:05:46.979,0:05:53.180
like one television station AM radio,[br]kind of thing.

0:05:55.000,0:05:59.580
My folks died when I was 7, so[br]I just kind

0:05:59.580,0:06:05.839
kind of like[br]buried myself in these--my imagination.

0:06:09.538,0:06:11.340
I used to make artwork because[br]I thought

0:06:11.340,0:06:13.406
I could hide behind it,

0:06:14.600,0:06:16.361
and that turned out not to be[br]the case.

0:06:16.361,0:06:22.580
My artwork became so tied up[br]with my identity, especially as Native Canadian,

0:06:22.580,0:06:30.388
that it was almost impossible to talk[br]about my artwork without my identity.

0:06:33.180,0:06:38.340
An uncle of mine showed me how[br]to make drums years ago, and I'm not a very good

0:06:38.340,0:06:43.620
musician, but whenever I'm home, like, my[br]cousins will kind of thrust a drum at me

0:06:43.620,0:06:46.979
to, like, participate, and it's great. I[br]love it,

0:06:47.090,0:06:50.180
but I wanted to make some of my own.

0:06:53.699,0:06:57.707
I've always also really liked modern[br]furniture.

0:07:01.440,0:07:07.101
So I kind of used those chairs[br]to make these drums,

0:07:07.396,0:07:12.916
give them a life other than a[br]utilitarian furniture, right?

0:07:14.039,0:07:16.733
Kind of give them a voice.

0:07:19.690,0:07:25.220
[strumming guitar]

0:07:33.669,0:07:36.762
Yeah, I--I like vehicles.

0:07:37.500,0:07:42.840
I have a nice Impala now.[br]It's my summer car really.

0:07:42.840,0:07:45.000
I cruise around in that.

0:07:45.553,0:07:47.698
♪ ♪

0:07:48.240,0:07:51.552
When I was an adolescent and[br]into my 20s,

0:07:51.552,0:07:56.585
I had to figure out who I was[br]and kind of come out of the closet,

0:07:57.360,0:08:04.829
but that's really not an issue anymore. [br]I think gay culture's kind of mainstream...

0:08:06.780,0:08:11.480
and I never really fit into that[br]stereotype anyways.

0:08:15.720,0:08:21.080
My family are hunters. it's very [br]common in Canada,

0:08:21.780,0:08:26.330
but a lot of my family have freezers to[br]keep moose meat in,

0:08:26.330,0:08:28.990
and a lot of the times, they're outside.

0:08:30.120,0:08:35.279
When I was visiting family, and I started[br]making these temporary sculptures and

0:08:35.279,0:08:37.919
sticking them on top of the freezers[br]because they were like the perfect

0:08:37.919,0:08:38.935
pedestal,

0:08:41.039,0:08:45.947
and I liked kind of seeing[br]that, like some people would just--they thought like

0:08:45.947,0:08:49.459
"Who put all this crap on here?" and other people, they would look at it and say,

0:08:49.459,0:08:55.685
"Oh, that's an[br]artwork, right?" So I decided to take that into the studio.

0:08:56.459,0:09:02.420
I like using things people can recognize[br]that they see around them every day.

0:09:18.324,0:09:19.927
[synth music]

0:09:22.688,0:09:26.220
[Sewing machine running]

0:09:30.899,0:09:37.052
This new series I just[br]started, it's gonna be shown in Vancouver in January.

0:09:40.019,0:09:44.540
I wanted to revisit the material it's[br]been about 10 years,

0:09:44.540,0:09:48.574
and I wanted to do it in a new way.

0:09:50.700,0:09:56.104
When I first made them, I was just kind [br]of slowly taking them apart piece by piece,

0:09:56.104,0:10:01.159
and now I just am much more[br]fluid with it.

0:10:02.334,0:10:05.089
- Oh, there are like kind of[br]horns.

0:10:05.089,0:10:07.089
[Saw whirring]

0:10:07.500,0:10:12.000
I work very intuitively.[br]We just tighten everything up[br]and then

0:10:12.000,0:10:15.000
start cutting see what happens.

0:10:15.668,0:10:17.756
I--I don't have an idea of what[br]it's gonna look

0:10:17.756,0:10:22.680
like in my head, so it will be[br]finished when it feels finished.

0:10:41.063,0:10:45.183
You know, I always say to myself, [br]"I'm not gonna work like this anymore,

0:10:45.183,0:10:50.000
and things are gonna be done[br]weeks ahead of the opening,"

0:10:50.000,0:10:53.557
but I guess a part of me still[br]likes the kind

0:10:53.557,0:10:57.636
of intensity of working down[br]to the wire.

0:10:58.543,0:10:59.738
- This will be attached?

0:10:59.738,0:11:01.280
Have you figured out how[br]that's gonna work?

0:11:01.280,0:11:01.980
- No.

0:11:01.980,0:11:03.147
- No, no.

0:11:04.800,0:11:06.056
- So...

0:11:07.892,0:11:08.719
Yeah.

0:11:09.625,0:11:11.675
- Well, and hope for the best.

0:11:11.675,0:11:12.839
[laughs]

0:11:12.839,0:11:16.939
[synth sounds]

0:11:17.093,0:11:21.827
I wanted to make these[br]ones more abstract.

0:11:25.743,0:11:28.860
I think when I made the first[br]ones I was

0:11:28.860,0:11:34.771
interested in referencing them to what[br]people thought native art is.

0:11:39.240,0:11:43.012
Now I've kind of moved away[br]from that.

0:11:45.600,0:11:51.770
And some of these just feel[br]like 20th century modern sculpture.

0:11:55.287,0:11:59.756
[strumming guitar]

0:12:00.309,0:12:04.700
I'm involved in a contemporary art[br]community that is very exclusive

0:12:05.142,0:12:08.441
♪ ♪

0:12:10.838,0:12:14.220
I don't know. There's all[br]different sorts of art worlds.

0:12:14.220,0:12:17.480
There's a whole Native[br]American art world.

0:12:17.480,0:12:21.373
♪ ♪

0:12:21.373,0:12:25.159
I kind of have a bit of a hand[br]in that.

0:12:25.159,0:12:31.040
♪ ♪

0:12:31.549,0:12:36.049
If I hadn't gone to art[br]school, if my parents hadn't died,

0:12:36.049,0:12:40.482
I probably would have wound up working on the family farm

0:12:41.544,0:12:44.530
and making art in secret.

0:12:44.530,0:12:48.309
♪ ♪

0:12:52.314,0:12:55.414
[soft electronic music]