AXENET'I TTH'AL

Created by Denesuline Elders and youth of Patuanak with resident and visiting artists, Axenet’i Tth’ al (pronounced Aah-hen-neh ti thul)—or Fringe—is a breath-taking, community-built fringe landscape celebrating the ingenuity of Northern Dene trappers and artisans. This immersive, interactive art exhibition is a product of a two-year residency with the community of Patuanak and visual artist Michèle Mackasey and guest artist Manuel Chantre. Through the nature of the process, the exhibition relays a Northern Denesuline aesthetic. 

The visual insight of the Denesuline worldview and their connection to their territory was originally exhibited at Wanuskewin Galleries in Saskatoon in the fall of 2017.

The story of the Axenet’i Tth’al exhibition is steeped in the rich history of collaboration between the English River First Nation (ERFN), resident artist Michèle Mackasey, guest artist Manuel Chantre, and numerous partners. As such, we felt a need to document the journey in a comprehensive way, sharing the process and learnings with a broad community and celebrating the stories of ERFN participants. 

In 2019, Common Weal staff set out planning an Axenet’i Tth’al publication, along with Michèle Mackasey and Wanuskewin Galleries Curator Felicia Gay. Felicia’s expertise brought a clarity of intent to the publication, which has served and guided the process throughout. We knew that we wanted the ERFN community voices and faces to be forefront in the book—to put Indigenous perspectives first. With this simple edict, the entire narrative and expected format of the publication was turned on its head, in comparison to conventions we had not even realized that we held. This meant that the Denesuline translations of the text came first, before the English version in the book’s layout. It meant that there were more Indigneous voices featured than colonial and that the colloquialisms and cadence of these voices was not altered to suit an institutional ear. It also meant that we worked at a different pace than a publication would generally take, as designs and translations were passed by ERFN advisers and elders at each stage.

This publication was launched in the fall of 2019, along with the remounting of Axenet’i Tth’al at the Mann Art Gallery in Prince Albert. The installation was a true community effort. Four ERFN community members took on the task of recreating the forest landscape, taking the time to carefully place and tend to the trees and moss. While they worked, they reminisced about the “old man,” late Elder Jacob Estralshenen, whose teachings guided Axenet’i Tth’al from its inception. As they inhabited the gallery over the long days, the Dene installers seemed to grow in ease, speaking with confidence about their home, elders, and practices. The physical transformation of the gallery was mirrored in a growing understanding about this transplanted environment among the gallery staff and visitors.

The finished exhibition was engrossing, reflecting the sensibilities of the artists and installers. Daily, the gallery staff found themselves involved in long, sometimes emotional, conversations with visitors about the exhibit and experiences of living in the north. At the end of the exhibition, community members returned to cut the trees into firewood to be used by ERFN members, and moss was carefully gathered and transported back to the forest. There was no waste. This conscientious handling of materials reinforced the importance of centering integrity from inception to completion of a project—of listening to the community’s priorities, trusting that they know how things should be done, and learning from them. 

A series of lightbox photos by ERFN community member Percy Paul was shown concurrently at Prince Albert’s John V. Hicks Gallery. These photos showcased the inspiration for Axenet’i Tth’all, a fringe maze created in the forest outside Patuanak in 2014.