From the Mi'kmaq of Newfoundland to the Smithsonian of New York

Jordan Bennett, a native of Stephenville Crossing on the west coast of Newfoundland, was digging through the archives of the Smithsonian Museum and the National Museum of the American Indian when he came across photos from 1930 of a Mi’kmaq from Conne. River, Joe Amite Jeddore.

Mr. Bennett quickly realized that he was the great-great-uncle of his friend John Nick Jeddore and invited him to participate in the art project.

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Joe Amite Jeddore’s Archive Photograph

Photo: Courtesy of the National Museum of the American Indian

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“I asked John Nick if he would agree that we work with these photographs and revisit them from an anthropological point of view to find a way to honor the family and honor their way of life. », Explains Jordan Bennett.

The two men therefore searched the memories of the Jeddore family and returned to some of the places represented in the photographs found.

The most important thing for me was to bring my “home” to New York.

Jordan Bennett, Indigenous artist

They recorded ambient sounds from these places for use during the exhibition.

“Once in New York, to stand in front of these photos with the sound that brought them to life, it added a whole new dimension to who they are and what they mean to me. “

Loudspeakers, built by Jordan Bennett, broadcast these sound elements in the exhibition hall in New York.

“Rather than using a usual speaker grill, I rather sewed one made from black ash bark”, specifies the artist, recounting having spent two weeks in Cape Breton to learn this technique. .

The exhibition Transformer: Native Art in Light and Sound is on display at the American Indian Museum until January 2019.