For the first time in nearly a decade and a half, groundbreaking and award winning film Wagon Burner from Kainai Nation artist Terrance Houle, is being shown in Calgary.

Houle’s short film, which was produced in 2003, centres on a young Indigenous boy reclaiming his identity through the act of burning a toy wagon.

The context of wagon burning—and of its use as a racial pejorative to call First Nations people ‘wagon burners’—is at the heart of Contemporary Calgary’s new exhibition The Wagon Burner and Other Stories which examines the complex history and perceptions of western culture and the Calgary Stampede.

“The whole purpose of this exhibition was to excavate the history behind this expression but also to investigate the role of wagons, specifically in Western Canada from within settler colonialism and colonial expansion west. Also, the ways that Indigenous peoples were attacking wagons as a way to protect their lands from encroachment,” said Contemporary Calgary Assistant Curator Muriel Kahwagi.

The exhibition, which centres around Houle’s film, also includes historical reprints of newspaper articles from the Library of Congress that discuss the burning of wagons, a montage of Western genre films that touch on the subject, and historic and contemporary posters from the Calgary Stampede that feature chuckwagon and Indigenous themes.

Kahwagi said that the exhibition’s goal is not to push any one particular viewpoint, but instead to begin a conversation about the complex history of the Stampede and western culture in Calgary.

“The only thing we can hope for the audience to do is to really ask questions about this history and to reflect on it and to reconsider its implications. We’re not here to offer answers. We’re here to provide a space for reflection, and for asking more questions,” Kahwagi said.

She said that the selection of works within the exhibition was a way to start those conversations.

“The [exhibition] also looks at how western films were portraying such attacks, but also really looks at chuckwagon racing as an important part of this time period—not just this year, but every year—and the role that has played,” Kahwagi said.

“We’ve been very fortunate to work… to produce certain posters from the Calgary collection archives. It’s really looking holistically at this history, and the many different parts of it that make up the wagon.”

Engaging with visitors to Contemporary Calgary through art

The last time that Houle’s work was shown as part of a major gallery exhibition in Calgary was in 2006.

His film received the jury prize in 2004 for best experimental film at the ImagineNative Film and Media Arts Festival.

“It’s kind of been shelved for a while, so we’re very happy to be showing it again within the context of this exhibition. Terence has been so wonderful to work with. He’s an instrumental artist and has been working here for a very long time, and is a really crucial part of the arts community here in Calgary,” said Kahwagi.

“This specific work by him is what inspired this whole project, so everything really revolves around this work from 2003. I think that it is really worth mentioning that this work continues to be as relevant today as it was in 2003 when Terence first made it. It speaks to the power of the work, but also to the tragedy that it can in a way, at the same time, continue to stay relevant.”

David Leinster, CEO of Contemporary Calgary said that the Stampede has been an amazing festival for Calgary and that their work as a gallery through the exhibition was adding to the cultural conversation during the 10 days.

“The Calgary Stampede is an amazing festival and it is unrivaled in the world of community and connection. As an arts organization, we like to have a conversation that supports the Stampede and Western culture, and we’re really proud to have Terence Houle… as an important point-counterpoint to chuckwagon culture and histories,” Leinster said.

“We’re an art gallery, a platform for getting together to have conversations about many different things.”

Acknowledging the sometimes difficult history of Western culture, and the place of Indigenous people in Western culture, was an important thing to do, he said.

“There’s still a lot of work that people need to do, we need to do as individuals, and as an organization and a community to really think about and acknowledge that these are our difficult histories. To surface those histories, and to see them through the lens of art, is what we do,” Leinster said.

“These are conversations that must take place. I think the arts allow us to do that in a way that isn’t necessarily even taking a side or a point of view. They present the art, and it allows us to stand in front of it. It allows us to think and reflect, and I think as a result of that our community continues to grow.”

Contemporary Calgary, he said, gave free access to the gallery and The Wagon Burner and Other Stories throughout the morning of July 11, as part of the second annual Stampede breakfast held by the gallery.

“We’re really super proud to have that as a wonderful opening, attended by over 400 people, and we’ve made the galleries free this morning for our Stampede breakfast to make sure that people can see this really important work,” Leinster said.

Mayor Gondek, who attended the morning’s Stampede breakfast, said that the Stampede itself is a Calgary institution that is taken in differently by everyone.

“When you think of Stampede as an organization, it is so multifaceted. It has its roots in agriculture, and it supports farm families and helps them keep going through a time when we’ve really lost a lot of our understanding and respect for what it means to have food security. So it’s incredibly important in that regard, but we tend to think of it as a 10-day event,” the mayor said.

“I think it’s important to have conversations like this and understand from people ‘what did they think of Stampede? How does it make them feel?’ I don’t think we’ve talked about that enough. So, I appreciate that we are having an opportunity to gather and talk about what Stampede means to each of them.”

The Wagon Burner and Other Stories will be on display at Contemporary Calgary until Sept. 8.