Gail Tremblay
Life Along the River, 2013
16mm film (Fishing at the Stone Weir, 1967); blue, red and white 16mm film leader; gold metallic braid
10 1/2 x 7 1/2 x 7 1/2 in
26.67 x 19.05 x 19.05 cm
26.67 x 19.05 x 19.05 cm
TRE044
$ 6,000.00
Further images
Basket woven with film from the 1967 documentary “Fishing at the Stone Weir," directed by Quentin Brown and produced by the National Film Board of Canada. Filmed over a period of three years, from summer 1963 to the late winter of 1965, and released in 1967, the Netsilik series is about the traditional lifestyle of Netsilingmiut living in the area around Kugaaruk. Tremblay wove at least 7 baskets with parts of film from this documentary. She commented how the film imagined a time in the past - a time that will never return, and thus was a romanticized and unreal representation of the indigenous people.
The Library and Archives Canada wrote:
"Part of a series revealing the live reality of traditional Eskimo (sic) life before the European acculturation. The Netsilik Eskimos of the Pelly Bay region in the Canadian Arctic have long lived apart from other people and have depended entirely on the land and their own ingenuity to sustain life through the rigors of the Arctic year. A minimum of cultural reconstruction was required during the filming; the Netsilik families readily agreed to live in the old way once more and showed considerable aptitude in recalling and representing the earlier ways of life. In this film, it is full summer. The skin tents are up, and it is time to fish. The men go into the river to form enclosures to trap fish. Once trapped, they are speared with three-pronged leisters. A woman cleans the catch, which has been strung on a thong. Everyone ennoys bits of raw fish."
This work was included in a Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
display of Gail Tremblay's art from June 2023 through June 2024.
display of Gail Tremblay's art from June 2023 through June 2024.
Exhibitions
2023-2024 Film Baskets of Gail Tremblay, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY2021-2022 Shattering Images: The Film Baskets of Gail Tremblay, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR (monograph)
2016 All that You Touch, curated by Brad Isaacs (Mohawk), Ottawa Art Gallery, Ontario, Canada
2015 Water, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR2014 “Gail Tremblay and Brian Tripp” (two person exhibition), Goudi’ni Native American Arts Gallery, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA
2013 Reframing images, Conceptualizing Indigenous Art, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR
Publications
2021 Shattering Images: The Film Baskets of Gail Tremblay. Published by Froelick Gallery in conjunction with the exhibition of the same title at Froelick Gallery; edited by Cathy Denning. December 1, 2021 – January 29, 2022. illustration, p. 20.