Why the Caged Bird Sings—Immersive Engagements Dunlop Exhibition

The past year has been jam-packed with summer programming. In partnership with the Dunlop Art Gallery, Common Weal brought interdisciplinary artist Cheryl L’Hirondelle’s Why the Caged Bird Sings—Immersive Engagements exhibition to the gallery’s Central and Sherwood branches. The exhibition planning and installations were intensive and uncompromising, but the outcomes were fabulous! The exhibition emerged from decades of songwriting with co-writers inside Saskatchewan’s correctional facilities, which Cheryl undertook in partnership with Common Weal for many of the workshops. The exhibition incorporates images and sounds of Indigenous territories, materials, songs, dance, and current realities of incarceration conveyed through technologies familiar to contemporary viewers. These include 360° VR music videos, video projections, and Sound Shower directional speakers, providing immersive experiences. This mix of multi-sensory and technical engagement intrigued a cross-section of viewers, particularly youth, in a way that is rare for gallery settings.

Arrangements of choice songs from the exhibition were performed by stellar Indigenous Saskatchewan musicians Berk Jodion and Krystle Pederson during the Regina Folk Festival and again as part of the Street Karaoke event during Nuit Blanche Regina. Hearing these songs sung by professional musicians was stunning; their voices and arrangements brought entirely new resonance to the songs written in corrections. The adjunct events were unique in that they brought together diverse audiences and participants in a way that felt quite natural. This was particularly evident in the Street Karaoke event, which brought in participants from the arts and music communities as well as unhoused people who populate the downtown of Regina. All participated equally in karaoke performances, each receiving a small performance fee. There was a jovial sense of camaraderie among the crowd that gathered through the night. A moment that stands out as both heart-breaking and yet elevating was when Berk Jodions young son, “little Berk,” took the stage during his dad’s performance, belting out “AIN’T NOTHING GOING TO BRING ME DOWN!”—a callback response in the song Can’t Break Us written by the young men at Regina's Paul Dojak correctional facility during Cheryl’s workshop—invoking an instant of renewed hope.

• The percent of Inmates who are Indigenous in Saskatchewan Corrections is estimated from 85% to 95%, with an Average Length of Sentences of up to two years less a day.