Indigenous VR experience screening at library

By Ry Clarke - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on September 17, 2022.

Colin Van Loon (Ahnahktsipiitaa), a Niisitapi writer and director of This is Not a Ceremony currently has his virtual reality piece on interactive display at the Lethbridge Public Library’s Main Branch.

The public can come down and watch the 21-minute piece learning more about Indigenous culture and the darker side of life Indigenous people have faced in Canada. The cinematic VR experience brings audiences into a dream-like world where two Indigenous trickster poets guide them through a virtual journey where they share Adam North Peigan and Brian Sinclair’s stories.

“Shooting 360 video, it was not something that I had done before this. It’s a real learning curve. These are very emotional stories, and I felt a responsibility when working in documentary to do justice to the storytellers. And an added responsibility because Adam was my relative,” said Ahnahktsipiitaa. “The whole thing took four years, and two of those years were during COVID, so we had to do our entire post production process differently than initially imagined.”

Ahnahktsipiitaa will be downtown as a guest speaker during the library’s Word on the Street Festival on the Piitoyiss Stage at 1 p.m. talking about his piece and the work that went in to creating it.

“I’m excited, I grew up in Lethbridge for a period of time when I was younger, and used to spend time at the library. It’ll be neat to go back,” said Ahnahktsipiitaa. “We’re doing a talk back and showing the piece, talking to people who come and watch.”

To do the piece in VR was an artistic choice that made the audience feel more involved with the presentation.

“Choosing the use of VR as a medium to tell the story was purposeful. This idea that people needed to feel closer to the storytellers and feeling closer to them using physical presence in this virtual reality. You feel more connected psychologically to the story, which happens as a result of their experience,” said Ahnahktsipiitaa.

The audience is asked to “witness” the tales told to them, giving a personal element of involvement in the relationship between storyteller and listener, a form of responsibility. “Typically, people don’t have a responsibility. To counter this trend, I wanted to give people a role in this piece’s responsibility. The tradition of becoming a witness, a community witness, which is prevalent in many Indigenous communities across Canada and in the United States. Specifically, within the Blackfoot community as well,” said Ahnahktsipiitaa. “Enabling them to better take action and carry forward these messages in their lives to their family and friends. Because if we hold these kinds of events in our collective memory, we are better enabled to prevent something similar from happening in the future.

The library will host the VR experience until October 31.

“We worked hard to develop this documentary style of storytelling in a way that is also imaginative and experimental. We believe that if people experienced something that was this expressive, they could gain a greater insight into their own lives.”