WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS

Why the Caged Bird Sings—Immersive Engagements is a solo exhibition of immersive works by interdisciplinary artist Cheryl L’Hirondelle. These works emerged from her decades-long commitment to engaging in collaborative songwriting processes with incarcerated populations in Saskatchewan. The exhibition opened at the Mann Art Gallery in Prince Albert in September 2020. Many visitors experienced it first at the Drive-In Karaoke opening, a COVID-safe way for people to engage with the exhibition and held in the gallery parking lot. The evening was led by Cheryl  along with guest singers,, who accompanied the audience in karaoke versions of the songs written in corrections so visitors could sing along from their cars and lawn chairs. Throughout the evening, attendees were invited to come through the gallery in small groups to experience the work. The evening was warm-hearted, with give-aways including drive-in style food, moss patterned face-masks handmade by Cheryl, and virtual reality visors to view one of the artworks on Vimeo. 

The second half of the event featured a danceable set by VJ Carrie Gates and DJ Tim Janke (AKA Stimmy the Whale). As the sun dipped behind the horizon and the evening sky began to glow orange, projected images became visible on the wall of windows behind the stage, creating a massive visual display. The projected exhibition videos continued to be displayed on the windows of the E. A. Rawlinson Centre, where the Mann Art Gallery is located, for the duration of the exhibition, viewable from the street and the bridge leading over the river. These outreach strategies not only succeeded in sharing the exhibition with regular gallery visitors who didn’t feel comfortable entering the gallery at this time but also reached many people who would never visit the art gallery at all. 

By its nature, Cheryl’s practice finds the expansive within the impossibly constricted. For this exhibition, she brought the northern landscape into the white cube of a gallery and turned a parking lot into a place of joyful connection in the midst of a pandemic, drawing out the uncontainable spirit that exists in each person. Looking forward, we’ll be working on a provincial exhibition tour to share this important work with a broader audience.

Next, we published a comprehensive catalogue Why the Caged Bird Sings—Immersive Engagements, building on the foundation set with 2017’s Axenet’i Tha’ll publication. In her curatorial statement, Northern Artistic Director Judy McNaughton speaks to Cheryl’s relationship with Common Weal, which began in 2008 when we “invited Cheryl to initiate an intensive songwriting experience at the Pine Grove Correctional Centre in Prince Albert where approximately 95% of incarcerated women are Indigenous, a statistic common to Canadian correctional facilities where an ongoing colonial legacy of systemic inequity becomes visible in this disproportionate representation within the justice system.”

Capturing this relationship and the uncontainable quality of Cheryl’s work was the focus of the publication. It’s difficult to do justice to Cheryl’s dynamic art practice, but flipping through the publication reproduces the air of expansion that’s felt when visiting the exhibition. The cornerstone of the publication’s writing is a critical essay by Dr. Julie Nagam, the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Arts, Collaboration, and Digital Media at the University of Winnipeg. Julie’s essay is astute and meaningful in its description of Cheryl’s unique position in the cultural landscape, which she captures with accuracy and surprising whimsy. Julie’s academic perspective is balanced by Cheryl’s first person artist statements, which bring us deep into the intent and significance of the artworks. Judy’s curatorial statement gives the reader a feel of the highly sensory quality of the exhibition, which engages the visual, auditory, spatial, olfactory, and tactile senses. The publication is completed through partner statements for context, QR codes to find details on and listen to the songs, and the artful design, featuring beautiful exhibition photographs. 

Common Weal’s programming is often unseen by the broader society and the learning that occurs can be hard to share. This publication aims to make some of this learning visible while never straying from our commitment to center the communities we serve. This commitment is further grounded in the publication dedication, which names co-writers who are no longer with us, noting “Your spirits will live on through the powerful words you contributed in the writing and singing of these songs.”