A still from Modest Livelihood, by Brian Jungen and Duane Linklater …Titled Modest Livelihood, the 50-minute film documents a moose hunt in the lush valleys, marshes and riverbanks near Fort St. John, close to Jungen’s home reserve. (He’s a member of the Doig River First Nation.) The film is a paean to that landscape, which the artists navigate in the company of Jungen’s uncle, learning from their elder in the traditional way. As viewers, we watch them watching, conferring and observing the signs of animal life, patiently wresting from the land what it can offer for their sustenance. Strikingly, the film is silent. Linklater, who completed his MFA at Bard College last week, says that their choice was a strategic one. “Film and mainstream media have often portrayed aboriginal people as silent,” he says, referring to the cliché of the war-painted man of few words. “Silence is imposed on them. But silence can be a position that we choose. It is clear that these figures function in the landscape from a powerful position of agency.” Full article

A still from Modest Livelihood, by Brian Jungen and Duane Linklater

…Titled Modest Livelihood, the 50-minute film documents a moose hunt in the lush valleys, marshes and riverbanks near Fort St. John, close to Jungen’s home reserve. (He’s a member of the Doig River First Nation.)

The film is a paean to that landscape, which the artists navigate in the company of Jungen’s uncle, learning from their elder in the traditional way. As viewers, we watch them watching, conferring and observing the signs of animal life, patiently wresting from the land what it can offer for their sustenance.

Strikingly, the film is silent. Linklater, who completed his MFA at Bard College last week, says that their choice was a strategic one. “Film and mainstream media have often portrayed aboriginal people as silent,” he says, referring to the cliché of the war-painted man of few words. “Silence is imposed on them. But silence can be a position that we choose. It is clear that these figures function in the landscape from a powerful position of agency.” Full article