Screen captures from the music video "Wintercount: Can't Break Us" (submitted/Common Weal Community Arts)

By Alison Sandstrom

Freedom songs

Songs by Prince Albert inmates exhibited at Mann Gallery

Sep 12, 2019 | 8:15 AM

Artist Cheryl L’Hirondelle wanted to do something differently when she was invited to perform at Pine Grove Correctional Facility in 2008.

“I love this notion of making something, of not just visiting and babysitting,” she told paNOW.

L’Hirondelle worked together with Judy McNaughton of Common Weal Arts to put on a five-day songwriting workshop in the prison, and came away with a professionally recorded song. It became the first of many.

Music written by people incarcerated in correctional facilities across Saskatchewan will be showcased in “Wintercount and Other Freedom Songs,” an exhibit that opens at the Mann Art Gallery this evening.

“From a Cree worldview the notion of freedom isn’t wild abandon but it’s sort of self-responsibility, self-governance and self-determination,” L’Hirondelle, who is Cree-Métis, said. “I called the songs ‘freedom songs’ because even though the person might be incarcerated at the time that they’re writing the song, by expressing themselves, by saying what they feel, and by thinking and articulating the life that they want to live, that’s freedom.”

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L’Hirondelle wrote the melodies for the songs, with the lyrics coming from inmates.

“I take them through a five-day process where I work them hard and show them that really within themselves they’ve got great ideas for things that need to be sung about,” she said.

…I hope they’ll come to the Mann Gallery and listen to the songs and sing along
– Cheryl L’Hirondelle

While pieces of the show have been exhibited elsewhere, this is the first time all the songs, their album artwork and music videos will be presented together. The fact that this premier is happening in Prince Albert has special significance, as seven of the nine songs come from the city’s correctional facilities.

“I am really excited that this work is coming home,” L’Hirondelle said. “So if anyone’s heard from any of their relatives that there were these songs that were being created or recorded, I hope they’ll come to the Mann Gallery and listen to the songs and sing along.”

A maze on trees and moss makes up “Axenet’i Tth’al” an interactive exhibit at the Mann Gallery (submitted/Common Weal Community Arts)

L’Hirondelle’s exhibition will join another show curated by Common Weal currently on display at the gallery. “Axenet’i Tth’al” (‘fringe’ in English) was created by Patuanak residents with artists Michele Mackasey and Manuel Chantre. The exhibition aims to transport the viewer to the northern Saskatchewan community. Thirty-six black spruce trees were brought in from Patuanak to create a maze reminiscent of a traditional Denesuline lynx trap. As the viewer moves through the exhibit or touches bundles of hanging sticks, lights, sounds and video clips are activated.

Common Weal’s mandate is to bring professional artists to communities around Saskatchewan. After a long period of trust building, many of Common Weal’s projects yield collaborative art exhibitions like the ones currently in the Mann Gallery.

“One of the hopes that I have when we bring this work to the public is they’ll be able to gain an understanding of the communities that the artists have been working with over the years,” Common Weal curator Judy McNaughton said. “It changes the perspective of who they are and what it means to be a part of the Saskatchewan population.”

The opening reception for “Wintercount and other freedom songs” and “Axenet’i Tth’al” starts at 7 p.m. on Thursday Sept. 12. The evening will feature performances by Cheryl L’Hirondelle, Joseph Naytowhow and artists from the Indigenous Peoples Artists Collective.

alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom