Exhibitions's texts
D - The Time of Crisis
States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources, particularly in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of mineral, water or other resources. (United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 2007, Art.32.2)
The constant destruction of land and the emissions produced by the unsustainable exploitation of resources is accelerating the climate crisis, which, in its turn, is accelerating damage to land. Climate warming has led to an intensification of forest fires, soil erosion and an increase in droughts. In 2019, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) acknowledged that Indigenous Peoples play a crucial role in the fight against global climate change by preventing deforestation and preserving ecosystems. While raising their voices to ensure legal recognition of their lands and their inviolability, Indigenous Peoples are also calling for a global effort to restore our environment and safeguard biodiversity.
Colonial-like Situation
All over the world Indigenous Peoples have experienced genocide, slavery, forced displacement, land and resource dispossession, racism and violation of their human rights since the beginning of European colonization. Soon after the First World War, this colonialism gradually came to an end with the creation of independent nations. However, many Indigenous Peoples claim they still live in a colonial-like relationship with the states in which they find themselves. Despite their international, regional or national legal obligations concerning Indigenous Peoples’ rights, many states give priority to economic development activities such as mining or hydroelectric projects on lands traditionally occupied by Indigenous Peoples without previously consulting them or obtaining their consent.
Pile o’Sápmi
Huikime drawing from the series Oaivemozit/ Madness / Galskap
Mixed media print by Máret Ánne Sara(1983-)
Sami
Sápmi, Norway
2012
Courtesy of the artist
© Máret Ánne Sara
Máret Ánne Sara’s family had to leave their traditional lands in northern Norway following the State order to limit their herd to seventy-five reindeer. In 2016, unable to survive economically, they took the State to court in the name of human and Indigenous rights. In spite of two victories in court, the Supreme Court finally declared the slaughter order legal in 2017. Pile o’Sápmi evokes the way in which reindeer breeders are affected by colonial laws, industries and exploitation of resources on the lands they depend on. The consequences of this imbalance on the environment and the neglect on the Sami have led to a form of madness which has concerned Máret Ánne Sara for many years.
Artist’s statement - Máret Ánne Sara
“Once upon a time there was a mother with many children. They were so diverse, that it was useless to compare them. The mother taught all of them that all were equally important for everyone's well being. They knew that if anyone was harmed or neglected, someone else - if not all of them -would suffer in unimaginable ways and for unknown times. Since her home worked so well, she was able to provide her children everything they needed, and her children prospered and grew. Some grew larger, others faster, some even smarter, until the wise eventually became so wise that they decided they know best. I am dedicating my art and my voice to remind that we are all connected to Mother Earth and to every creature surrounding us. And to once again respect all of our siblings, for the sake of a common future. Without all of us we will eventually be nothing. I realised when I was working for this exhibition that it is my prayer for us all to reconnect our heads with the ground we all stand on.”
Máret Ánne Sara
Nuclear Testing in Indigenous Territory: the Case of the Marshall Islands
Soon after the Second World War, the development of atomic weapons intensified reaching a climax during the Cold War and often targeting Indigenous territories. Between 1946 and 1958, the United States carried out sixty-seven nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands, that is the equivalent of 1.6 Hiroshima bombs a day over twelve years. For the local populations, the consequences were disastrous: forced displacements, severe irradiation syndromes, cancers, births of babies suffering from serious malformations and environmental pollution. Today, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, after having obtained independence from the United States in 1986, is struggling against the consequences of climate warming and the heavy colonial heritage of nuclear testing.
The Gold Conquest or the Colonization of the Americas
It was the quest for new wealth which led to the colonization of the Americas in the 15th century and, since then, to the extraction of tons of gold which have enriched European economies. Gold-linked activity continues to bring its lot of violence to Indigenous communities and the massive use of mercury is seriously harming the environment. In Guyana, where thousands of kilometres of rivers are polluted, deforestation has worsened with the proliferation of megaprojects. In 2007, the mobilization of Indigenous Peoples and ecologists enabled the suspension of the “Montagne d’Or” project for it was incompatible with environmental standards. Today, it is the creation of an industrial opencast mine of 15,100 hectares which is threatening the Apatou district in the heart of the Amazonian forest.
Artist’s statement - Ti’iwan Couchili
“Brought up in a mixed Teko-Wayana family on the Tampok River, a tributary of the Maroni, I began to paint maluwana or hut skies in the early 1990s. At the time, the traditional techniques using mineral pigments had fallen into disuse. One of my first “innovations” was to revive these old techniques with the help of my elders but also by discovering old archive photos. Over the years, I have wanted to explore spaces other than those of the kapok wood discs particular to maluwana and valorize the entire Wayana graphic identity. My favourite means of expression remains that of painting on Amazonian woods. My work is full of the social problems Amerindian communities have to face: acculturation, addictions, suicides and poverty. I try to go beyond this difficult daily life by bearing witness to the value and beauty of my Amerindian graphic identities.”
Ti’iwan Couchili
Environmental Injustice
Indigenous Peoples live in the regions most threatened by climate change. The world’s tropical forests, in which 60 million Indigenous Peoples live, are under pressure as their lands are being cleared and damaged by mining and oil extraction, large scale agriculture and cattle breeding, illegal exploitation of forests and hydroelectric projects. These damaging projects, often authorized without prior consultation or consent, have a high social price for the Indigenous Peoples and their environment. In grazing zones, water resources for animals are becoming increasingly unpredictable, forcing breeders to develop new survival strategies. The Indigenous Peoples of the Arctic are encountering increasingly extreme annual variations in temperatures, ranging from -40oC to +30oC. Climate change and the disappearance of sea ice are already having an impact on their means of subsistence.
Mega-dam Projects in North America
Since 1970, energy infrastructures such as mega-dam projects have proliferated in North America causing the flooding of lands traditionally used and occupied by Indigenous Peoples. These developments have led to the displacement of communities and disruption of sustainable local economies. The James Bay hydroelectric complex began in 1971 without prior consent from the region’s Cree and Inuit peoples. Their opposition led to the adoption of the James Bay Convention in 1975 which made provision for their financial compensation and legally protected their fishing and hunting rights in exchange for the making over of the 11,500 square kilometres of traditional lands which had been flooded.
Artist’s statement - Margaret Orr
“With my Cree and Inuit relatives, I grew up on the land situated around the Chisasibi River in Northern Quebec. I learned that we must take care not to destroy the land and upset the natural ecosystems that sustain the lives of so many living creatures. In late September of 1984, it was reported that 10,000 caribou drowned while trying to cross the Caniapiscau River near Limestone Falls. They perished because Hydro-Quebec opened the reservoir spill gates two hundred and seventy miles upstream on the Caniapiscau River. Land Water depicts the Caniapiscau River area where the caribou drowned. In Water Sky one can view this painting as if from above looking down on the water, or as if from below looking up to the sky. My video 10,000 Drowned represents the caribous’ point of view as they travel over the land and then drown. Contrary to news media reports, Indigenous Peoples of the area recently confirmed to me that an estimated 20,000 caribou drowned.”
Margaret Orr
Palm Oil: a Destructive Monoculture
On the island of Borneo, exportations of palm oil have soared in twenty years. Today, the region provides more than half of the world’s palm oil, used in 50% of products sold in supermarkets. Native to Africa, this plant was introduced to Asia during colonization. Miraculous in tropical climates because of its high yield, the resource has however a price. The forest, cut down to satisfy the global demand for wood, has been replaced by palm oil monoculture. This lucrative activity has encouraged illegal forest exploitation and land-clearing fires, leading to a loss of biodiversity and a rise in CO2 emissions. In Borneo, the Indigenous Peoples have lost their lands and traditional ways of life.
Resistance and Alternatives in the Face of Climate Challenges
All over the world, environmental damage increased by climate change is being observed. Civil society is taking stock of the climate emergency and asking both firms and states to respect environmental rights and their commitments. There have never been so many cases in national courts against companies exploiting land. Local populations are calling for prior consultation and, when it is too late, they are demanding the damage caused to be repaired. Indigenous Peoples are asserting their collective rights to control their land and the natural resources found on it. They continue to oppose projects which harm the environment. They often have international law, the courts and public opinion on their side.
Imider: Long Resistance
Imider is a small oasis planted in a valley in the heart of the arid Anti-Atlas mountains in south eastern Morocco. Not far from this village, the largest silver mine in Africa has been using water from local water tables for decades, drying up the land, almond trees, olive trees and palm trees of this Amazigh community and discharging pollutants into the natural environment. In 2011, the villagers peacefully rebelled by closing a large water pipe which supplied the mine. For eight years, the whole village – women, men and children – took part in collective actions of resistance after having undergone various forms of threats and repression.
Struggle of the Xikrin in Cateté
In the heart of Brazilian Amazonia, the Xikrin people occupy lands they have always had to defend. Since the 1990s, a large number of mining projects have been threatening the inhabitants’ health and the passing down of their ritual practices. Families are often forced to use water polluted by the mines’ toxic waste for washing and cassava preparation. Involved in a court case against the mining complexes since 2012, the Xikrin have recently managed to have the activities of one of the most dangerous plants suspended for nine months. In 2018, six members of the community created the Inhobikwa (friends) collective. They produce audiovisual documents in order to claim their rights to their land and culture and to bear witness to their struggle against the mines.
From Wounded Knee to Standing Rock
In 1973, members of the Oglala community and militants from the American Indian Movement occupied Wounded Knee reservation in order to call for an enquiry into the exploitation of natural resources without the communities’ consent, in violation of the treaties signed in the 19th century. The media recalled that in 1890 Wounded Knee had been the site of a massacre perpetrated by the United States army against the Lakota people. In 2016, Standing Rock reservation also attracted the attention of the media thanks to social networking when militants, the Water Protectors group, opposed the building of the Dakota Access oil pipeline. In 2021, President Biden announced the cancellation of the permit for a similar project, the Keystone XL, giving militants fresh hope.
