Video 3:6 Video Transcript
An Informal Conversation With Gordon Sparks
Gordon Sparks: And to have new values with new oral stories, new traditions, new songs. Because there’s a lot of songs that are, like, we will use in our culture that are ancient, right? But we also have to remember, our ancestors would have had to come up with new songs for those times to. They’re not going to be singing one song for, you know, 10,000 years and never change it. They’re going to have to sing another song for certain times.
So I’m starting to learn that in this process of going back home where – after doing a mask – I just did the artist and residency in Caraquet, where I joined Caraquet to Pabineau. – So now I’m connecting these two little communities by using a three dimensional form in oral story,
By investigating, you know, when the France first come over, they come over with a ship. They had 100 people in the ship coming to where the East Coast. And only 18 survived. And those 18 people that survived, they did so because they met the Mi’kmaq people, and the Mi’kmaq helped them survive through the four seasons and learn how to work with four seasons in these harsh environments.
And then they married into the Mi’kmaq families by marrying the women and having kids with them. So the men and women were of equal value because they both had survival skills that they were able to pass on to settlers. And so I talked about that, and researched that while I was in that community and it was really neat.
So at that time, now we have to come up with a way to have a song and dance for that. So when I was presenting it to the mayor, on the last day, put the mask on and the mask all of a sudden developed this dance. It was more like a like a hunted dance. It was kind of moving around and then he’ll pretend he was hunting, right.(Dance motions) (laughter)
Sparks: And then, move forward and he’ll be like (motions) “Come here,” and then we’ll go over to the ground and look at the ground. And then you could tell that he was telling them, like – “This is what you eat, this is what you don’t eat.”
So then I started listening to that, and I started with – now I’m understanding how this can be in the community of – The other part of it would be at the very beginning you have a narrator, so someone who will start talking about the story in the simplest form. Share that, then you have the drummers that start drumming. Then you have the people that will start making new songs that go with that particular moment. Then that’s when the mask will come out and dance.
So now it’s to go back to communities and then have this presented in front of the community, to have them help me. Because I don’t sing, I can carve a mask, so I need someone that has that voice, that has that ability, right? And the storyteller to narrate the story – and then to pull you into that. And then that becomes the cultural story itself. And that’s how you move forward. It’s, anyway, it’s been interesting.
Jerrott: All of those different connections. Just amazing.
Sparks: Yeah. And it’s just about going – and that’s what the mask has been doing, the same with the tattooing. That they’re becoming molded together in quite a unique way. And the connections from community to community.
So now, the communities are hearing about it, and now they’re inviting me to go to their communities. So now I’m going to be exploring the east coast of basically New Brunswick. Out to all the communities now to bring this into the community and see what they have to say.
So it’s about interviewing the people in the community, interviewing them to see what they can do, what their their explanations about it is. Where they see this picture going. And then having that interaction within community members, ranging from the youngest to the oldest, and then having their their say in it. And then also participating in it. And that’s allowing it to reach out to the people of the community within itself. Because they see it from – I explained it to how I see it and how I visualize it, and then they’ll explain it to me on how they’re seeing this come to their community.
Now the elders are on board. Where the one that I sent to P.E.I. – the Matilda – she was there at the closing ceremony. She did the the water ceremony. So she went to a community in Listuguj and brought the mask with her. Wherever she goes now, she brings a mask. And it met the first Indigenous woman in politics, that was just sworn in. So she’s already met her, met the mask. She went to Listuguj and brought it, went in front of one hundred and seventy two educators and then introduced the mask to them. Explained to the community about how this mask helped her community, and she brought it to Listuguj. Which is – she’s from P.E.I.. (sound drops) That’s like a 12 hour drive (laughs) You know what I mean? So, she went to this spot and introduced it, and woke it up, and shared the story about how it came to her community. And how it’s helped her community and herself. And to let them know that I’m coming to their community, and to welcome me in their community.
So now the elders are on board. And the elders are passing the information to the elders, which is basically – the elders are not necessarily anybody that’s old. An elder would be someone that’s practicing traditional ways of knowing, thinking and sharing, right? Those are our elders. And so now she’s passing this on to these people, now they’re welcoming me in their communities. So now I got to go to Listuguj after I move back to Bathurst, and then go there and work with them for the next, however long that’s going to take.
Jerrott: So a continuous journey. Wow. It’s incredible to see how all of that started, you know. When you started the process, and when you shared how it started from talking to the community. But that is kind of triggering those additional learnings. And I think you’re really strengthening that element in the culture.