Photo created by I Moving Lab
I LAND (in) Multnomah: A series of activations by I Moving Lab
This roving series of happenings was created by Jack Gray and Dakota Camacho and produced locally in Multnomah by the artists in collaboration with René Soulier Smith, myself, and other community partners, August 17-19, 2017.
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I Moving Lab was a global arts collective created by Jack Gray, an indigenous Māori contemporary dance artist from Aotearoa (New Zealand), and Dakota Camacho, an indigenous Matao contemporary sonic and performance artist from Guåhan (Guam).
Our collaboration gave way to a series of activations by I Moving Lab collectively called I LAND (in) Multnomah, which included local happenings: site specific research at the Native American Youth and Family Center, a potluck and sharing session with local and visiting indigenous artists, a community movement class at FLOCK Dance Center, a workshop on how to use invasive plants as fabric dye, and a final performance at New Expressive Works.
It seemed to me, then, in order to perform indigeneity, one must engage in another process – and, in other places and times, people refer to this process as “decolonization.” But that already seems disconnected from the heart of what needs to happen: What needs to happen is that we need to start working through ideas of how we represent the value system of being close to each other, close to the land, close to the things that created us. Share that, be that, acknowledge that – rather than ignore it, and then rediscover and re-construct it. - Jack Gray, The Realization of “Not Knowing” with I Moving Lab, published in Stance on Dance, October 17, 2017