Coyote Walk Saskatoon
September 20-27, 2015
I am honoured to be invited to Saskatoon and to Treaty 6 Territory and aim to respectfully learn from the people and the land during my stay.
— Jay White
Coyote Walk Saskatoon was a collaboration between Vancouver-based artist Jay White, Saskatoon-based curator Michael Peterson, and the people of Saskatoon to bring attention to the entanglement among humans, domestic animals, and wildlife in our city. During his visit, Jay performed a multi-day day Coyote Walk as a starting point for discussion on forms the project could take and to allow Jay to encounter our landscape from his perspective. He began his Coyote Walk on September 20th, 2015, following an artist talk and workshop to introduce the project, held in association with Remai Modern. Jay’s visit concluded with his sharing experiences with urban wildlife during Coyote Walk as part of Nuit Blanche Saskatoon on September 26th and then as part of a public roundtable discussion the following day, encouraging community members to share their stories as well during both events.
Rather than presenting a predetermined or established work, Jay collaborated with Saskatoon residents to develop a project with them. The framework that guided the creation of the project is one of a mutual desire to share, to learn from each other, and to honour each other’s perspectives and interests. Jay learned from and amplified local knowledge, respectfully working with members of many of Saskatoon’s communities. Through the efforts of Jay and community members, the project explored how experiential learning, participatory art, and storytelling can build capacity and knowledge within a community.
Coyote Walk
Coyote Walk is a series of walks where Jay camps and hides in an urban area for three days, inviting people to track and attempt to photograph him. The project invites others to enter, or at least consider, unseen spaces in their city and the beings that live there. By asking that participants respect the artist’s privacy while also attempting to photograph him, they are confronted with the idea that their presence might infringe on other animals’ privacy and behaviors. Participants’ photographs and experiences become a central aspect of the final work.
Both times the walk was performed in Vancouver, the project ended prematurely because it became difficult to find places to hide and sleep in the day that weren’t already occupied by other animals, including coyotes.
In Vancouver, the project has resulted in a longterm partnership between Jay and Dan Straker, the head of the Co-existing With Coyotes program in the city. Both are members of Urban Animal Agency, a collective of urban ecologists. Through art-based interventions and engagements at their provisional headquarters near Stanley Park, the group illuminates cities as a habitat shared among humans and other animals.
Events
Artist talk and workshop with Remai Modern
September 20th, 3:00 to 4:30 pm
Meewasin Valley Interpretive Centre, 402 3rd Avenue South
Jay hosted an all-ages event that shared methods of respectfully making art alongside other animals. This included short exercises and stories about his interactions with wildlife in urban environments.
Coyote Walk
September 20th to 22nd
Various locations throughout Saskatoon
Jay camped and hid in Saskatoon while inviting people to track and attempt to photograph him by sending out his GPS coordinates via a downloadable smartphone app.
Workshop at Culture Days Kickoff
September 24th
The Bassment, 202 4th Avenue North
Jay shared stories about his interactions with urban wildlife while asking community members to share their own and mark the locations of these interactions on a map of Saskatoon.
Performance and discussion at Nuit Blanche
September 26th, 8:00pm to late; Discussion 9:15 to 9:45 pm
Corner of 20th Street West and Avenue E South
Jay projected his short video Miawe’g Lmu’j aqq Paqt’sm / Between the Dog and the Wolf as well as shared with those in attendance about his experiences during his Coyote Walk in Saskatoon.
Community discussion
September 27th, 11:00 am to 1:00 pm
The Common at The Two Twenty, 220 20th Street West
Local ecologists and Jay discussed Saskatoon’s urban wildlife as the starting point for imagining an art and ecology project in collaboration with the community of Saskatoon.
Artist bio
Jay White is an artist of Mi’kmaq and European descent whose practice often involves storytelling and walking as a form of collaborative knowledge-sharing. Much of his recent work illuminates animals and places in urban environments that have become marginalized and ignored in order to consider the ways that human activity affects others. He places a high priority on honouring the perspectives of other beings.
Community partners
The Sustainability Education Research Institute
The full program and schedule of events is available in the press release.