2020

Film still, lustre digital print laminated on dibond mounted on metal u-channel subframe

becomes body of water is a series of film stills from a land-based performance in Musseau’s home region of Elmastukwek, at the base of the Blomidon Mountains (part of the Appalachian mountain chain). Wearing a hunter/gatherer ribbon skirt with graphic elements from Beothuk caribou bone pendants, she patiently braids long strands of grey fabric and neon green tulle. The strands are attached to an exposed root system in the bog during the autumn season. She activates the strands in the wind––braiding the past and present while moving towards a future. This is an embodied practice. Interweaving movement and endurance with the environment to generate an ephemeral expression. Musseau imagines the deeper relationship that our presence on the land has with the cosmos. She creates a narrative where the 22 foot braid transforms into a body of water flowing through Skite’kmujuawti, the milky way.This artwork is part of a larger body of work for Musseau’s solo exhibition titled, Pi’tawkewaq | our people up river, 2019-2020.