Nuit Blanche: From the Big Land

Glenn Gear, From the Big Land (2020), installed at 4th SPACE, Concordia University, Montreal QC. February 29, 2020. Photo by Glenn Gear.

Buttons with images from From the Big Land (2020) were handed out to visitors during Nuit Blanche in Montreal, February 29, 2020. Photo by Glenn Gear.

Danielle Aimée-Miles serves elk stew and bannock to visitors during Nuit Blanche in Montreal, February 29, 2020. Photo by Glenn Gear.

Glenn Gear, From the Big Land (2020), installed at 4th SPACE, Concordia University, Montreal QC. February 29, 2020. Photo by Glenn Gear.

Still from From the Big Land (2020), Glenn Gear.

From the Big Land

February 29, 2020
4th SPACE, Concordia University

Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership: The Pilimmaksarniq / Pijariuqsarniq Project celebrated NUIT BLANCHE with our 2020 Artist-in-Residence artist Glenn Gear at 4th SPACE!

Activating the night with hypnotic and mesmerizing sound, colour and kaleidoscopic imagery, Newfoundland-born, Montreal-based filmmaker, animator and visual artist of mixed Inuit ancestry from Nunatsiavut (Hopedale, Labrador) Glenn Gear, in partnership with the Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership: The Pilimmaksarniq / Pijariuqsarniq Project and 4th SPACE of Concordia University, present From the Big Land, a video and audio installation. From the Big Land delves into the relationships between people, animals and land, rethinking the spaces in which history, hope, and Indigenous knowledge may thrive. Based on the artist’s photographs of Labrador flora such as black spruce twigs and blooms of Labrador tea, in addition to photos of sealskin and beadwork, From the Big Land explores alternative forms of storytelling through intersections of archival media (photos and recordings), animation, traditional crafts, photography, and drawings. Presented on 4th SPACE’s large screen with sound projected onto the street, From the Big Land will animate and spark the visual and auditory interests of passersby with rhythms of throat singing intertwined with the undulating kaleidoscopic forms, creating waves of recognizable imagery, which then transform into purely aesthetic forms.