Cheryl L'Hirondelle
"It's like we have the antidote for some of what's going on in the world... there's insects in rain forests that have the properties of actually healing certain diseases... i think similarly as indigenous beings we also within our world views have that antidote."
Cheryl L'Hirondelle (aka Waynohtêw, Koprek) is a halfbreed (Metis/Cree-non status/treaty, French, German, Polish) multi/interdisciplinary artist. Since the early 80's she has created, performed, collaborated and presented work in a variety of artistic disciplines: performance art, music (voice, percussion), theatre, performance poetry, storytelling, installation art, video and new media (net.art, pirate radio, audio art).
Since the early 90's she has also worked as an arts programmer, cultural strategist/activist, arts consultant, facilitator/coordinator, administrator, assessor, workshop and sessional instructor and director/producer independently and within the national artist-run network, national independent music industry, various educational institutions, first nations bands, tribal councils and government agencies (provincial & federal) in this land now known as Canada.
Her practice is an investigation of the intersection of cree worldview (nêhiyawin) and the creative inter/multidisciplinarity inherent in indigenous, world and (so called) youth cultures. As part of this investigation, L'Hirondelle develops performative physical endurances, infiltrations and interventions, site-specific installations, interactive net.art projects and keeps singing, making rhythm, dancing and telling stories whenever and where ever she can.
In 2004, Cheryl was guest creative director for the Banff New Media Institute's online magazine Horizon Zero edition 17:TELL devoted to aboriginal digital storytelling. Her net.art database project treatycard is part of Walter Phillips Gallery's touring exhibition Database Imaginary. Both 17:TELL and treatycard won the 2005 New Media prize at imagineNATIVE Aboriginal Film and Media Festival in Toronto. Her performance art work has been featured in an essay by Ahasiw Maskegon Iskwew for Caught in the Act: An Anthology of Performance Art by Canadian Women, edited by Tanya Mars and Johanna Householder (2004), in Contemporary Theatre Review: an international journal, with an essay by Susan Bennett (1995) and online in an essay by Candice Hopkins for the Hemispheric Institute for Performance & Politics' publication e-misferica (2005).
Cheryl also is part of the acapella/percussion group M'Girl: an Aboriginal Women's Ensemble, still performs with her singing/drumming duo Nikamok and gigs (percussion, vocals) with Metis singer/songwriter Arlette Alcock. Cheryl was also recently appointed as an Associate Researcher with SmartLab, London, UK.
Video
A 28 minute video in which artist Cheryl L'Hirondelle describes her art practice: her first inspiration to be an artist, her influences, her creative process and how her work has evolved over time.
Interspersed in this video are clips of her performances "êkâyapâhkaci" and "awa ka âmaciwêt pîwâpisko-waciya/climbing the iron mountains".
click images to view
