On desire & knowledge: Artist Kay Mayer talks about her work in “triangulation(s): A BFA Exhibit”

Mayer’s exhibit, held in December at Cerasus Studio and full of installation and video work, questions the power dynamics to which we often unknowingly consent.

Detail of “Fixations II — All I Have.” Installation consists of music videos projected onto birch bark. Photo courtesy of the artist.

If it’s loving that you want
Then you should make me your girl (your girl)
If it’s loving that you need
Baby, come and share my world (share my world)
If it’s loving that you want
Come and take a walk with me (walk with me)
’Cause everything that you need, I got it right here baby

-Rihanna

Winter is a time of year for gathering together to share stories. Often, these stories serve the purpose of both creating a sense of community during the darkest time of year as well as instilling wisdom & morals within the community. The practice is very important.

Traditionally, these stories are told orally. If one were to transcribe the words into physical form, there is no telling whose hands they may fall into and what might be done with them. This method of protecting sacred wisdom is negotiated with the necessity of allowing Anishinaabe culture to flourish — particularly in the face of repression and assimilation.

Detail of “Case I: Makade-bigiw,” recovered asphalt, birch plywood, mirror, acrylic. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Despite the profound beauty that is Anishinaabe culture, I, like many other Anishinaabeg, have experienced great sadness in association with being native. Settler shame is imprinted within our consciousnesses. This shame instills a devaluation of indigeneity. It teaches us to resent our own bodies, and it causes us to sever our relationships not only from ourselves and our kin but, ultimately, from the land. These separations are vital in assuring the ongoing process of dispossession that is settler colonialism: as traditional wisdom and reverence for life are replaced with self-perpetuated disdain, we are disempowered to fully protect ourselves in the face of ongoing colonial oppression.

“triangulation(s): A BFA Exhibit” is an effort to disrupt settler shame. The work is inspired by personal experiences of abuse and neglect, which are situated within a narrative of intergenerational trauma. It looks to the past in order to interpret the present, prefiguratively enacting a decolonized future.

Clips from “Demo of White Fawn’s Daughter,” video/performance/installation. Images courtesy of the artist.

Detail of “Demo of White Fawn’s Daughter” and “Case III: Asiiniwan.” Photo courtesy of the artist.

I have this memory from a young age: my aunt drove as we were headed north, away from the rez. I sat in the back seat, silently staring out of the window as she and my cousins chattered amidst a backdrop of pop music playing on the radio. I watched the rapidly undulating ebb and flow of trees lining the road, as seen from a vehicle moving at the speed of 25 miles per hour. In the upper corner of the window, I recognized a reflection of the moon fixed in the same position despite our progression down the road. With this constant presence, I was assured with a sense of comfort and security. I felt this connection was special — that it was meant just for me.

Installation view of “triangulations: A BFA Exhibit,” including “Demo of White Fawn’s Daughter” (left), “Gestures of Care” (right), and “Case III: Asiiniwan” (foreground). Photo courtesy of the artist.

This type of connection with the natural world can easily be explained away by the rationale of logic and science. Imperialism and settler-colonialism have a way of enforcing certain order and predictability upon the world. Knowledge is desired not for enhancing one’s relationship with their surroundings, but rather for the purposes of exploitation, domination, and/or generating capital.

“Case III: Asiiniwan,” reappropriated stones, birch plywood, mirror, acrylic. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Installation view of “triangulations: A BFA Exhibit.” Image courtesy of the artist.

“triangulation(s)” is a mediation of the gap between minority & imperialist, settler-colonial, hetero-patriarchal, white supremacist powers.

Borrowing from the technologies utilized to further the acquisition of knowledge which is consistent with imperialist settler-colonialism, the exhibit asks viewers to reconsider current standards of normativity. The work questions the power dynamics that we often unknowingly consent to.

Detail of “Case II: Vivian’s Trinkets,” assorted objects, birch plywood, mirror, acrylic. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Various display cases constructed out of birch plywood are placed throughout the gallery, each containing seemingly mundane objects: pieces of broken asphalt, assorted white stones, and an array of trinkets. Consistent with Anishinaabe perspectives, however, these objects are considered as animate as animals or plants. They are presumed the capacity to enact agency in the world while also being susceptible to being acted upon. Likewise, they are presented in a way which asserts their vibrancy while also confining them.

The “Case” series interrogates notions of value, museological practices, and the politics of spectatorship. It is informed by histories of exoticization of the “other.” It presents everyday objects as spectacular, elevating them to revered positions as artifacts of oppression.

Detail of “Fixations II: All I Have” and “Case I: Makade-Bigiw.” Photo courtesy of the artist.

“Fixations II: All I Have” (top) and “Fixations III: Suppressing Bawating” (bottom) Images courtesy of the artist.

The installations “Fixations II: All I Have” and “Fixations III: Suppressing Bawating” consist of pieces of birch bark screwed to the wall. Projections of colonial desire (YouTube videos) reduce the Wiigwaas into materials/sites for differing interpretations. As pop and RnB songs accompany one installation, miscellaneous videos taken in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan (formerly known as Bawating) complete the other.

“Fixations” takes imagery with coded meanings to create assemblages of alluringly disturbing visions. It speaks to marginalized peoples’ methods of survival which sometimes consist of relating (or, at times, obsessing) with mainstream, normative ideals.

Still from “Inebriation in Detail,” video/performance. All images courtesy of the artist.

Like all of the other videos shown in the exhibit, the video/performance titled “Inebriation in Detail” remains silent in the space of the gallery. The artist is shown telling stories and alluding to the stereotype of a drunken indian while binge-drinking craft beer. Aside from facial expressions, the only cue to let viewers in on the content of these stories is the text shown at the bottom of the screen. Alternating between occasional first-person and a majority third-person narration, the figure’s stories of alcohol-related violence and oppression unfold disjointedly while her movements occur erratically in time and on an endless cycle. The artist performs as both roles of subject of the screen and that of the authority (as the one who actually dictates what is revealed). The silence speaks in an utterly different capacity than the original monologue would have.

Installation view of “triangulation(s): a BFA exhibit” at Cerasus Studio, Grand Rapids, MI. Image courtesy of the artist.

As sound seeps out of a pair of wireless headphones which have been placed on the wall to the right of the video, viewers who are inclined to listen can place the source of the sound as coming from the music videos of “Fixations II,” on the other side of the wall. In this way, the installation literally acts as a refusal to submit to the initial demands of an audience — the compulsory expectations to know all, for this knowledge to be readily accessible, and to be able to use this knowledge to any advantage.

Nothing is ever as straightforward as we believe it should be. Viewers are reminded of the potential of reconsidering the knee-jerk enforcement of dominance that we sometimes unknowingly embody. As soon as the worn path of privilege is retired, an infinitude of relating with the world becomes possible.

Kay Mayer is a Visual Studies (Department of Visual and Media Arts) alumni at Grand Valley State University. She an Anishinaabekwe who is a member of the Office for Public Culture & also works with a women’s healing collective located in the territory known as Grand Rapids, MI.

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