Artist Statement
This presentation represents some of the expressions around my understanding of the storm we stand in as beings within an ancient ritual performed by natural beings of land, water and stars. As humans, we are visitors to a cycle and interconnection of life forces around us that have sustained life since time immemorial.
We now stand in an industrial storm that threatens this balance. These are works created with a focus around wild salmon + salmonid habitat and preservation as well a look at eulachon and sturgeon in an eco-cosmological context.
The focus of this presentation looks to put the natural cycles and habitats of wild salmon/salmonids, sturgeon and eulachons into your hearts + minds. In my short life on this Earth thus far, I’ve seen shifts in the harvesting of these foods and shifts in their environmental statuses that have waxed + waned in various ways. I hope that with some awareness and focused efforts, we as a human species can remain reverent of the beings that inhabit our water ways and have a large stake in our interconnection as beings living together in time/space…even if we can’t see each other all the time.
Ronnie Dean Harris aka Ostwelve, is a Stō:lo/St’át’imc/Nlaka’pamux multimedia artist based in Vancouver, BC. He got his start with professional graphic design at the age of 14 after submitting a design to a Vancouver-based skateboard company “Arson” and got this design printed. In the same year he began co-hosting the “When Spirits Whisper” radio show along side Gunargie O’Sullivan on CO-OP Radio 100.5 FM (formerly 102.7 FM).
In the past years he’s worked on number of projects, most prominently as an actor and composer for APTN/Showcase dramatic series “Moccasin Flats” for two seasons as a performer and a lead character, and in the subsequent film project “Moccasin Flats: Redemption” in 2007.
In the last 10 years Ronnie has also been very active in facilitating and creating workshop programs for youth empowerment in media arts and hip-hop. Currently he is working as the Program Director for “Reframing Relations” with the Community Arts Council of Vancouver delivering programming for indigenous and non-indigenous artists to interface with students and youth in schools and communities around the concept of reconciliation. Click here for more info.
