Live from the Latch, 2012

archival pigment print, edition of 67
50.8 x 35.6 (image size)
unframed

This edition was created by Sonny Assu specifically for the Vancouver Art Gallerys Artist Edition program in relation to his work inBeat Nation: Art, Hip Hop and Aboriginal Cultureon view at the Gallery from February 25 June 3, 2012.

Assu, a multi-disciplinary artist, is Laich-kwil-tach of the We Wai Kai Nation (Cape Mudge.) Using a range of materials, he merges Northwest Coast Aboriginal iconography with the aesthetics of popular culture as an exploration of his mixed ancestry. His work appropriates, or transforms, items of consumer and popular culture to trace the lineage of his own personal life.

The inspiration for the two new works forBeat Nationand this Artist Edition was a double record album Assu encountered, titled Indian Music of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Recorded by the musicologist Ida Halpern for the legendary Folkways Records label, the record features Assus great-grandfather Chief Billy Assu singing with the renowned Kwakwakawakw artist Mungo Martin.

In his workBilly and the Chiefs: The Complete Banned Collection, Assu references the form of the vinyl record by painting a cartoon-like image of a spinning disc overlaid with traditional formline imagery onto sixty-seven traditional deer-hide drums, one for every year the potlatch was banned in British Columbia (1884-1951.) For his Artist EditionLive from the Latch, Assu has created a poster advertising the performance of Billy and the Chiefs on their 1921 Strict Law tour, proudly proclaiming that they have been Banned By Canadian Govt.

Sonny Assu is a graduate of Emily Carr University of Art + Design. His work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions across Canada and the United States. He recently won the Creative Achievement Award for Excellence in First Nations Art (2011) from the British Columbia Achievement Foundation and was longlisted for the 2012 Sobey Art Award.

sonnyassu.com
equinoxgallery.com