Studio Orta

Symphony for Absent Wildlife weaves a story of loss through the history of the point-blanket, a trade commodity, exchanged between First Nation indigenous people of Canada and the early European settlers. The felt point-blanket, woven in the UK and traded for beaver fur, gradually effaced the cultural identity of the indigenous peoples. Named the capote, the striped woollen cape became a ‘democratic’ form of clothing worn across Alberta. A brown wool felt is the medium of the orchestras’ tailcoats. Cut from former red-cross blankets, the felt is also sculpted into masks that depict birds and animals connected with the spirit belief system of the indigenous peoples in Canada. These creatures –bison, beavers, wolves, eagles, caribou– once abundant across the Albertan plains were hunted to near extinction. The symphony is played on bird-whistles and recounts the cycles of disappearance as the dawn-chorus closes to a heart-wrenching silence.