Tanisi keke totamak —
Ka cis teneme toyak
Artist: KC Adams
Curator: Dr. Julie Nagam
2021
Tanisi keke totamak …. Ka cis teneme toyak (phonetic pronunciation: tan-i-si ke-ke to-ta-mak ka cis teen-ne-me tō-yak), which means What can we do, to respect each other, is an art installation by artist KC Adams. This is the second of three public art installations commissioned by The Winnipeg Foundation for The Forks. All three installations are being supported by project curator Dr. Julie Nagam.
The 11-foot-tall installation is fabricated out of steel and concrete, with internally lighted flames. The work examines reconciliation by highlighting the opportunity for harmony between Indigenous and settler communities. It is located at the Peace Meeting Site, close to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights at The Forks.
Tanisi keke totamak …. Ka cis teneme toyak is part of a series of public artworks, called “Acts of Compassion.”
About the Artist: KC Adams
KC Adams is a social practice artist, mentor, and educator; her career span 23 years, creating work that explores technologies and their connection to Indigenous epistemologies and identity. KC is pursuing a MA in Cultural Studies: Curatorial Practices at the University of Winnipeg. Her goal is to pursue Manitoba Indigenous communal pottery methods by using participatory research. She wants to bridge the knowledge gap for community members to take control of their histories and stories.
Acts Of Compassion
Throughout Manitoba’s history there have been acts of kindness or exchanges with settlers and Indigenous people. The foundation of Manitoba as a province was built on these exchanges and intermixing that created a new nation of people the Metis. The grounding principals of Manitobans are rooted in kindness, mutual respect, humility and love. Stories such as Indigenous people carrying settlers children across the province to a safer place, teaching traders and new comers how to survive in this harsh climate, marrying into each other families to create new generations of people are all acts of love and respect. The proposal of these public art works will be situated in the inspiration of these kinds of acts to build a strong foundation of Indigenous and settler relations into the future. It will inspire new generations of Manitobans, Indigenous people and new comers with these stories of compassion. Each artist has proposed stories of knowledge, cultural exchange and friendship as way forward to build relationships that will be strong and rooted in respect.histories that these acts represent. The proposal contains three new works by KC Adams, Jaimie Isaac and Val Vlint that will inspire new generations and at the same time create connections for past Manitobans. Each of these projects are examples of public art concepts which would be further explored if the proposal successful. Each work would have a storyboard or plague with the story of each of the work to have this knowledge shared with the public. This project could be timed perfectly with the Manitoba 150 year anniversary to launch this project. Three new public artworks for the Forks in Winnipeg.
Acts of Compassion is curated by Dr. Julie Nagam