Master of Fine Arts (MFA) |

future ready: cusp

KJ Edwards

See it On Campus: Level 1

Visitor Info

future ready: reach (2023) can be viewed in the Libby Leshgold Gallery.

Award Recipient

Opus Art Supplies Graduation Award MFA

[Installation] Duration: (7:00min loop)- see documentation below

Original format: 16mm [installation], seven-channels, stereo sound

[film] In-person viewing format for The Show: 16mm single-channel triptych, stereo sound

Role: Director, Cinematographer, Editor, Sound Designer

future ready: cusp [installation] Documentation

Description

future ready: cusp (2023) is a temporal observation of nature, reflecting on the relational: the tethering of animal, earthly and human energies through moments of connection, both calm and chaotic, moving toward a shared future shrouded in uncertainty as the planet warms.

*The first 7:00min of this documentation is the full loop, followed by additional footage and documentation of previous iterations created by the artist during their research (total link run time 22:24min).

Details

The central screen is made from phytograms where the artist placed plants in an eco-developer, then left the film strips in the sunlight for an hour. The artist then fixed the emulsion in place for three days in a salt bath. All B&W film was eco-processed with caffenol (made from instant coffee, vitamin C and washing soda), and done so by hand by the artist.

Exhibitions

future ready: cusp (2023) was first exhibited in the RBC Media Gallery at Emily Carr University of Art + Design as part of the 2023 MFA Thesis Exhibition that ran from March 25 – April 9 2023.

future ready cusp (2023) [film]

Excerpt from the single channel, triptych iteration of future ready: cusp (2023)[installation] on view in the Libby Leshgold Media Gallery at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, May 10-24 2023.

Format: 7 min, 16mm, stereo sound

https://vimeo.com/kjedwards/futurereadycusp-film?share=copy

For more on eco-processing and my practice, please watch the video below:

Project Stills

Documentation by Michael Love

Note from the creator KJ Edwards

The experience of sitting in future ready: cusp (2023) is both calming and anxiety inducing all at once. Viewers have described being either overwhelmed or calmed while viewing the work, and also as feeling both things simultaneously. It has been my intention to comment on the disconnect many of us have from nature and animal life in our day-to-day experiences. The work reflects on climate disaster and the idea of earth resetting itself. I utilized sound effects like earthquakes, volcanos, and avalanches, to create a four part cycle. The Air segment begins with light exterior ambient sounds overtop of images of mountain ranges, eagles, tall grass, and grazing horses. Black and white phytograms appear as a warning signal, as the images begin to distort, moving into the Earth segment. Low rumbling risers and an earthquake sound are slowly introduced overtop of images of the moose and eagles. My portrait flashes, signalling the start of the Fire segment, where the brightly coloured phytograms overlay trees, suggesting that they are burning. I then bring in volcano and avalanche sound effects, while whale, elk, and moose cries fade in and out. The loop comes to a climactic point as my eyes stare at the viewer from behind the red abstracted blaze. Then comes the aftermath of the change, wherein the earth rebuilds itself. This is the Water segment, with water being the power behind all life on earth. As the sound design calms down, whale calls, rather than cries, sit quietly underneath a deep ocean ambience, suggesting a great flood from the melting of glaciers has cleansed the land and that life will continue on. These sounds are paired with images of water, salmon, Castle Rock, and flashing blue spirit light. This segment suggests that there is hope: that as a result of whatever change is coming, life will continue on in some form.

Territorial Filming Acknowledgments

16 mm (Bolex, 3378E, 2022) B&W cinematography by KJ Edwards filmed on unceded and stolen xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Territory in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; and on unceded and stolen Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Territory on Bowen Island, British Columbia, Canada.

16mm (Bolex, Kodak 7207, 2021) colour cinematography by KJ Edwards filmed on unceded and stolen xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Territory in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

16 mm (Bolex, 3378E, 2022), (Bolex, Kodak 7266, 2022) B&W cinematography by KJ Edwards filmed on Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) Territory in Squamish, British Columbia, Canada.

16mm (Bolex, 3378E, 2022) B&W cinematography by KJ Edwards filmed on Treaty 6 Territory: the traditional territory of the Nehiyaw (Cree), Denesuliné (Dene), Nakota Sioux (Stoney), Anishinaabe (Saulteaux) and Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) Nations in Calahoo, Alberta, Canada; and within the Métis Nation of Alberta Region 4. This territory has also been home to The Michel First Nation, a community of mixed Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk), Nehiyaw (Cree), and Métis families.

16mm colour and B&W phytogram footage created by KJ Edwards, with help from Emma, Ethan and Everett Patrick, on Treaty 6 Territory: the traditional territory of the Nehiyaw (Cree), Denesuliné (Dene), Nakota Sioux (Stoney), Anishinaabe (Saulteaux) and Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) Nations in Calahoo, Alberta, Canada; and within the Métis Nation of Alberta Region 4. This territory has also been home to The Michel First Nation, a community of mixed Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk), Nehiyaw (Cree), and Métis families.

16mm (Bolex, Kodak 7207, 2022) colour and 16mm (Bolex, 3378E, 2022) B&W by KJ Edwards filmed in Treaty 6 Territory: the traditional territory of the Nehiyaw (Cree), Denesuliné (Dene), Nakota Sioux (Stoney), Anishinaabe (Saulteaux) and Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) Nations in Calahoo, Alberta, Canada; and within the Métis Nation of Alberta Region 4. This territory has also been home to The Michel First Nation, a community of mixed Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk), Nehiyaw (Cree), and Métis families.

Digital cinematography (iPhone 12 Pro, 2022) by KJ Edwards filmed on traditional Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Territory near Dawson City, Yukon, Canada.

Digital scans by Filmhouse, Niagara Custom Lab, and Frame Discreet.

KJ Edwards

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KJ Edwards is a Kanien’kehá:ka and mixed settler filmmaker and video editor. KJ’s family is from Kahnawa:ké and Longueuil, Quebec; while they were born and raised in Treaty 6 Territory, Edmonton, Alberta.

Holding a BFA in Film Production from Toronto Metropolitan University, KJ is trained in narrative, documentary and experimental filmmaking techniques, using analogue, digital, and hybrid workflows. KJ’s undergraduate short film, Meet The Sky, starring Chanin Lee, T’áncháy Redvers, and Cheri Maracle, is making festival rounds. The film won the Short Film Impact Award and the Best of BC at the 2023 Vancouver International Women in Film Festival, supported by GEMS (WIFTV).

KJ’s MFA thesis research with Emily Carr University of Art + Design looks to dreams as a lifeway, as a means to communicate with ancestors and to work creatively to tell stories, alongside memory work and ideation. KJ reflects on the unpredictability of analogue workflows through eco processing 16mm film, looking to the medium as that of a collaborator. They inquire about the ways in which their neurodivergence and training might be both challenged and enriched through material processes, returning to an attentiveness of mind and body.

KJ was also recently a Youth Mentor for Saagajiwe’s Creative Native Project with Buffy Sainte-Marie, and a Pitch Participant with the first ever Indigenous Screen Summit at the 2022 Banff World Media Festival.

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