Silent movies have never been truly silent, as most films back then were accompanied by the sound of the projector and a live score that helped carry the dramaturgy into crescendos and diminuendos. A silent film in the purest sense, Brian Jungen and Duane Linklater's collaborative film project Modest Livelihood is composed of long, slow takes shot over two hunting trips in the Dane-zaa Territory otherwise known as Northern British Columbia and Alberta. Silence has been employed to flatten the dramaturgy, to make the affect of the film stand on its own as an uncompromised representation of their hunt. In a darkened soundproof room, the digitized 16mm film acts as a reprieve and a reminder of Indigenous identity and the right to self-representation.
Brian Jungen & Duane Linklater, Modest Livelihood
The title references the ruling of The Supreme Court of Canada vs. Donald Marshall that eventually saw Marshall cleared of all charges for fishing out of season due to his Mi'kmaq rights under treaty law. The court decision emphasized that he could exercise his rights so long as it was not for monetary gain, but to cover the basic necessities of a "moderate livelihood."
Through the cinematography of Jesse Cain of Dead Horse Films, the fifty minute film captures Jungen and Linklater as they are first led by Doig River First Nations elder (and Jungen's uncle) Jack Askoty, and then later as just the two artists embark on a subsequent winter trip. Their treks are not dramatized and the expected climax (i.e. the kill) is neither seen nor heard.
First premiered at The Walter Phillips Gallery as part of an offsite dOCUMENTA (13) (and exhibiting at the AGO this fall), Modest Livelihood is now screening at Catriona Jeffries along with four short loops taken from over fifty hours of footage shot on 16mm. While the film proper is screening as a Blu-ray disc, the filmic components become sculptural installations in the rest of the gallery as the space is filled with the whirling rattle of loopers and projectors. Jungen and Linklater use this film about their hunt within the legal confines of Treaty 8 to provoke the parameters of a "moderate livelihood" and all of its patronizing connotations, challenging what that definition could mean in the 21st Century context of contemporary art.
Catriona Jeffries: http://catrionajeffries.com/
Brian Jungen and Duane Linklater: Modest Livelihood continues until July 20.
Amy Fung is a writer and organizer who publishes nationally and internationally in journals, magazines, catalogues, and monographs in print and online. She is the Programs Manager at Cineworks Independent Filmmakers Society and her ongoings can be found at POSTpacificPOST.com and on Twitter @someasianbitch. She is Akimblog's Vancouver correspondent.
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Brian Jungen & Duane Linklater at Catriona Jeffries
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