{"id":78363,"date":"2022-12-04T10:05:23","date_gmt":"2022-12-04T15:05:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artmur.com\/artists\/karine-giboulo\/broken-circle-2\/"},"modified":"2022-12-06T16:07:25","modified_gmt":"2022-12-06T21:07:25","slug":"broken-circle","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/artmur.com\/en\/artists\/karine-giboulo\/broken-circle\/","title":{"rendered":"Broken Circle"},"content":{"rendered":"
March 5 \u2013 April 23, 2015
\nOpening reception: Saturday, March 5th from 3-5pm
\nKarine Giboulo: Broken Circle<\/em><\/p>\n

Text by Sasha Gora<\/p>\n

Shoulders shrugged, a man stands among row after row of empty single beds. Like the beds, with frames that tilt and mattresses that hang a bit too far to the right, his posture is wobbly, a little unsure. It is hard to tell if he is looking ahead, or if his gaze is cast down. Part of Karine Giboulo\u2019s Broken Circle, the empty beds are haunting as they reference the history of residential schools. The man\u2019s stare suggests the weight of memory, the burden of stories.<\/p>\n

Giboulo employs sculpture as a mode of storytelling. The Montreal-based artist creates elaborate miniature worlds that are reminiscent of dioramas and ethnographic museum displays. Behind their precious scale and warm colours are harsh observations and critiques of the world\u2019s economic and social ills. For her exhibition at Art M\u00fbr, Giboulo delicately engages with Canada\u2019s broken relationship with First Nations communities.<\/p>\n

Past projects have brought Giboulo to China (All you can eat, 2008), Haiti (Democracy Village, 2012), and India (City of Dreams, 2013). Back in Canada, Giboulo realized even though she grew up close to the Manawan community, Lanaudi\u00e8re, she had never set foot on a reserve.<\/p>\n

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada released a summary in 2015 that describes the residential school system as cultural genocide. \u201cCultural\u201d seems to soften the punch; however, cultural genocide is a component to genocide, not a different type. The commission\u2019s head Justice Murray Sinclair states \u201c . . . this is not an aboriginal problem, it\u2019s a Canadian problem.\u201d1 Broken Circle imparts a similar view. This is an installation about Canada.<\/p>\n

Made by hand, Giboulo sculpts each figure with compasion and respect. The labourous process and detail she invests is testimony to her awareness of the power of stories. She conducts her research with the questions of a journalist, the field notes of an anthropologist. She reports her research with the sensibilites of a storyteller.<\/p>\n

Broken Circle is a collection of stories. Mathias, an Innu from Natashquan and residential school survivor, generously shared his stories with the artist. Detailed vignettes jump between generations to narrate a non-linear story inspired by Mathias\u2019, and others, words. Installed as a circle, parts are broken off. One scene bring us to the tundra. We see caribou, children and the RCMP. In another we are in a school, witnessing forced assimilation. Another brings us to a reserve. Thumb out, a young woman tries to hitch a ride. The installation is representative of the complexities of Canada\u2019s colonial legacy and how they play out today.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe truth about stories is that that\u2019s all we are,\u201d writes Thomas King.2 He also warns about their dangers: \u201cFor once a story is told, it cannot be called back. Once told, it is loose in the world. So you have to be careful with the stories you tell. And you have to watch out for the stories that you are told.\u201d For reconciliation, we need new stories that build a stronger circle. Giboulo respects the responsibility stories command and Broken Circle shares stories that need to be told.3<\/p>\n

1. CBC News, \u201cTruth and Reconciliation Commission urges Canada to confront \u2018cultural genocide\u2019 or residential schools, CBC News, June 2, 2015, accessed February 4, 2016, http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/politics\/truth-and-reconciliation-commission-urges-canada-to-confront-cultural-genocide-of-residential-schools-1.3096229.
\n2. Thomas King, The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2003. 2.
\n3. Ibid., 10.<\/div>\n

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