Seeking Responses to the Land
The land in and around Tombstone Territorial Park, located in the traditional territory of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, is a place of significant cultural importance, biodiversity and beauty. The area was first known as Ddhäl Ch'èl Cha Nän (“ragged mountain land” in the Hän language) and people also refer to it as Dempster Country or Joe and Annie Henry Land (in honour of the late Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Elders who lived and travelled extensively in the area).
Has the land in and around Tombstone Territorial Park spoken to you in some way? If so, how do you respond? Have you observed different beings of the land interacting with each other? If so, what did this mean to you?
Some of us are relative newcomers and some of us have a deep ancestral tie to the land. Depending on how we experience the land—as hunter or gatherer, Elder or youth, scientist or artist, explorer or resident, gendered or non-binary, public servant or non-profit organizer, historian or journalist, BIPOC or settler, abled or disabled—we may respond differently. Like a biome’s flora and fauna, there are places where these different human experiences can intersect and influence.
You are invited to contribute a land-based response that speaks to the importance of the area in and around Tombstone Territorial Park. The land-based responses will be collected in a large format print book and/or online exhibition.
To give voice to the diversity of human response, the project is open to all perspectives, disciplines and forms of expression. Land-based responses suited to this project may emerge from:
Traditional knowledge as well as oral or written histories
The study of science (essays, illustrations, photographs, maps)
Creative writing
Sound and film
Traditional or contemporary art and craft (all forms)
Interviews, personal essays, journalism, recipes
Interdisciplinary collaboration
Any form of response inspired by the land
Indigenous and non-Indigenous contributors are welcome. If you would like to contribute, please contact Clea here, with a brief description of your land-based response. Final artwork, text and recordings will not be required until fall 2021 (date TBA).
Contributors whose works are selected for inclusion will be compensated based on available funding. Previously published or exhibited work will be considered.