On a Thursday evening, following Yukonstruct’s monthly Beer-O’Clock social gathering, we sat down for a chat with four Yukon artists to talk about how the landscape of the territory impacts their art and lives.

Lianne Charlie (Visual artist / Educator)

Matthew Lien (Composer / Binaural sound artist)

Emily Ross (Musician / Borealis Soul)

Jayden Soroka (Filmmaker / VR/AR maker)

Jacob’s Process Notes:

To prepare for the conversation, I had sent them the following:

To me, Landscape includes:

• The environment we are a part of.

• What we perceive with our senses in the day to day and on special trips.

• The sense of sight is often dominant (like so many places in our world) but we include all the other senses - including the sense of belonging, home and of difference and stangeness.

• Context / Relation to the Wild / Relation to human build spaces / Relation to the relationships between Time & Place 

Watch the full video:

All four artists are embracing the challenges and opportunities of living and working in the Yukon (which sometimes includes leaving for a while). 

Connecting their diverse approaches and backgrounds are questions about how our contexts - which include the physical space around us, but also the relationships, experiences and laws that surround us - shape our lives and the art we make.

Lianne Charlie talked about layers of complexity in approaching this work, including the dynamics of “surface” and “below surface” laws and practices that exist under the umbrella agreements. Legacies of what is achieved and what is lost in the legal and governmental constructions of land and ownership were also discussed.

Emily Ross talked of the relationships of friendship, collaboration and solidarity that connect her to the Yukon and to Borealis Soul, the hip hop collective she works with. Her art emerges from those relationships and in relation to her experiences growing up in Whitehorse.

Jayden Soroka spoke of the potential for immersive digital experiences like virtual reality to connect audiences with empathy and bring them to places they couldn’t otherwise get to.

Matthew Liens’ work in recording and playback with binaural technology allows for place to be conveyed through space and time and lets us hear the vibrations and reflections from another time and place.

These artists are strong examples of the work already happening in the territory that is influenced by all the relations we share.