Authority is an Attribute … Revisited

Authority is an Attribute ... Revisited SUZY LAKE As we drove down the Red Squirrel Road to attend the conference that gave rise to this issue, the foliage was lush. I hadn't been down this road for a long time. I had expected everything to be the same, but it was different. A knot formed in my stomach. This puzzled me. I stretched to see traces of the former clear-cuts. Occasionally, I detected a barren area about 20 feet in. On an earlier trip, I had photographed a collection of three-year-old pines planted in gravel not too far from the road. Those pines struggled to attach themselves to the rock. I still have the photographs; but the pines are gone, and poplars have grown in. The famous Red Squirrel Road.... Journal ofCanadian Studies Vol. 33, No. 2 (Ete 1998 Swnmer) 107 Environmentalists' blockade on Red Squirrel Road, September 1988. Photo: Peter McMillen Certainly the events of the Red Squirrel Road blockades and the Bear Island land claim had extended the direction ofmy art work. The blending of my art and my activism became my means of support for the Red Squirrel Road blockades. During the blockades, the local and provincial governments negotiated to ensure the manifestation was a peaceful one. It appeared that strategies used by the empowered had significantly changed since my involvement with civil disobedience in the 1960s and 1970s. But, was this the case or, rather, had the violence of authority been hidden behind a charade of negotiation, as in Chief Justice McEachern's ruling on the Gitksan/Wet'suweten land claim in British Columbia? And perhaps here, with the irregular prosecution of demonstrators on the Red Squirrel Road blockades? I wanted to know more, how and why. As in the past, I am able to research my questions and experiences by means of making art. The original exhibition, "Authority is an Attribute [Part l]," investigated the dynamics ofpower versus authority relationships. Itfailed, however, to scrutinize the complexities and complicities ofthis theme beyond the expressive, "knee-jerk" polarities ofvictim and exploiter. The collaboration was an opportunity to develop these concepts more thoroughly, at the same time as bringing their cause to the gallery-going public. "Authority is an Attribute ... Part II," explored the concept of authority as it extends into power relations and gamesmanship-like strategies. To represent this visually, I designed the installation to provoke tension between 108 Revue d'itudes canadiennes "The Game Players," 1991 Game theory has been usedto analyze andcalculate bestpossible strategies byparticipants in circumstances where their interests - or those under their command - are, at least, in part, corijlicting. Game theory is employedto maximize one'sposition at the loss ofthe other. The installation, a sequence ofphotographs documenting a chess game in progress is hung along the two side wall~ ofthe gallery. The story-boardsequence is one ofthree major coinponents in the installation. The chess game is s_tagedat the manicured edge oftheforest . The men are in business suits. In this context, the sequence ofph_otographs suggest that sometAing beyonda game is at stake, reinforced by the constituency with the binoculars in the component, "Authority is an Attribute ofPower Relations. " Relations betlveen individuals and groups, ifregularised and subject to rules - traditional or legal- tend to be authority relations. Relations betweenparties absent ofany commonframework oflaw. o_r-consensus, tend to be power relations. Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought Journal ofCanadian Studies 109 three major components: "Cautioned Homes and Gardens," ''The Game Players" and "Authority is an Attribute ofPower Relations." The work went through many stages before it arrived at this form, however, and became a collaboration with the Teme-Augama Anishnabai. My initial gesture was simple, and perhaps nai:ve. I photographed models (my urban friends) dressed as they would appear for work. They were directed to look at the camera through a large pair ofbinoculars. It was important for them to look benign in every way, as I wanted them to represent an ordinary range of the general public. The binoculars would re-position the reading of the commonplace to include connotations of desire and scrutiny. These images were printed life-sized and placed along the logging road to be photographed. I also photographed...