Newest art installation brings fire to The Forks

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This article was published 15/12/2021 (1727 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jaimie Isaac’s latest work is the Winnipeg Foundation’s final piece of its public arts project at The Forks.

The Eighth and Final Fire is an all-steel series of eight triangles that grow larger and larger as the work approaches the Oodena celebration circle, which sits near the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers.

The concept and the work’s title come from Anishinaabe oral histories and brichbark scrolls called the Seven Prophecies, which foretell of the coming of European settlers to Turtle Island, the name Indigenous people give to North America.

Isaac first learned of the Seven Prophecies from her grandmother, Mary Courchene, who helped unveil the public art installation at dusk Wednesday afternoon.

”I heard about the Seven Prophecies since I was a kid, and I was so inspired and curious about it,” Isaac said. “Each of the fires that you see points to a generation, a timeline in history. And we are currently the seventh fire — and the eighth fire will be lit when Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples work together to choose a path of collaboration, a foundation of good relationships.”

The work’s first steel triangle is about one-metre tall and each triangle is bigger than the next until the eighth and final one, which is more than three-metres tall and includes a flame carved into its steel face.

The work points toward Oodena because of the celebration circle’s significance as a meeting place for Indigenous people, a tradition that goes back thousands of years.

”I really wanted it in conversation with all the gatherings that happen at Oodena circle, which often brings together many nations to talk about different issues and celebrate,” she said.

The opening ceremony took place at dusk because Isaac says the steel, which has been intentionally rusted, appears to be aflame when the final rays setting sun shine upon it.

It stands at a high-traffic crossroads at The Forks, between Oodena and The Forks Market, behind the Johnston Terminal and next to one of the park’s skating paths.

Isaac made and discarded many designs for the piece in the past three years before completing the final design, which was made by StateCraft Architectural Fabricators in Winnipeg.

“I was hoping when you from from (The Forks Market), it looks like one piece, and then when you’re coming up either side, you notice it breaking away into different pieces,” she said.

The Eighth and Final Fire joins three other public art installations at The Forks the foundation’s Green Spaces Strategy commissioned and began unveiling in June 2020, and the second one Isaac’s been involved with.

Val Vint and KC Adams, two other Indigenous artists from Manitoba, teamed with Isaac to create the 9.1-metre Niimaamaa, which means “my mother” among Cree, Aninishinaable and Métis speakers.

“I was actually ecstatic to hear about this project and now actually seeing it in its physical form, it is truly beautiful and a great piece of reconciliation for our community,” Sky Bridges, foundation chief executive officer, who first learned of Isaac’s work when he began the job in April. “This is what the best of Winnipeg looks like.”

Chi-kishkayhitamihk si te li neu Biizon (Education is the New Bison), a 3.6-metre stylized bison by Vint, and Tanisi keke totamak…. Ka cis teneme toyak (What can we do, to respect each other), a 3.3-metre steel and concrete work by Adams are also part of the foundation’s project at The Forks.

alan.small@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @AlanDSmall