Response to Trans-Regalia by Kelly Ross and Aaron Boissonneault

Trans-Regalia : A Dialogue
By Kelly Ross and Aaron Boissonneault

KELLY: I recall waiting with you at the bus stop for Cheyenne Henry in the Windsor Park neighbourhood on the morning of Trans-regalia, and feeling more aware of my white skin than usual. I had never met Cheyenne before, as you had, and I was scared that maybe she would be disapproving my “participation” in her performance as the observer; the commissioned article-writer. I was scared of the ‘what-do-you-know, white-girl’ attitude, an attitude which I find totally valid given this state’s violent history of colonization and genocide of the indigenous peoples of this land.

Trans-regalia, though, was hugely different in practice from what I had originally anticipated.

AARON: Where would a “what-do-you-know, white-girl” attitude have in a performance about building community? Think about the piece and what it's about: three generations of women hop on a city bus in pow wow regalia to engage total strangers and evoke a dialogue. Think about what is involved in the piece: pow wow regalia. Pow wows, aside from competition and prize money, are entirely about a celebration and a pride in ones heritage. By boarding a bus with her mother and daughters in pow wow regalia, Cheyenne was inviting everyone on the bus to participate in that celebration. Where in a piece about participation and community building is there a place for exclusion, anger, racism and conflict. How do you build a community with a “what-do-you-know, white-girl” attitude?

There was no place for anger in this piece and I think your self-conscious ‘whiteness’ might be preventing you from really looking at what's in play here.

Think about the smiles and conversation between strangers that were aroused by the performance: the commuters, normally making their way from Point A to Point B becoming a community, if only briefly and as fleeting as the next stop, by their shared experience in a celebration of Aboriginal heritage, and especially of Aboriginal people taking pride in their heritage which is something these commuters probably NEVER see. Their only picture may be of public inebriation, poverty, anger, and a broken spirit. Also consider, rather than being looked at as an anthropology piece, Cheyenne presented Aboriginal culture as something as alive as her young daughters are, and as vibrant as their pow wow regalia.

KELLY: I agree that community-building is stifled by racial discrimination. My answer to your questions is twofold: one, earlier this year, I encountered this “what-do-you-know, white-girl” attitude in my ally work with indigenous peoples from a nearby nation, so I was feeling timid. Secondly, as a coloniser, I do not know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of genocide. If an indigenous person feels resentful of me based on the colour of my skin, that is okay; I understand. It does not feel good, but as an ally, I need to give those indigenous peoples who might feel resentful of ‘the coloniser’ the space to express those feelings.

But as I said previously, my wary expectations for Trans-regalia were not justified. Cheyenne and her mother were incredibly friendly and extroverted women, and they were clearly excited we were there to join them for the morning. They did not see me as a ‘white-girl’, but someone that was there to join them in their reclamation. This is how they treated all individuals on the city bus as well.

AARON: When thinking about public space, specifically that of transit commuters commuting on buses, I think of those spaces as something mundane, monotonous, and generally one of individuals existing in their own social sphere, and not even thinking of participating in that of any other person on the bus. These commuters have one thing in common, that they are travelling from Point A to Point B. The possibilities between these diverse individuals - who would otherwise have nothing to do with each other - to connect, to share, to possibly grow and cross pollinate their culture, their stories, their ideas with each other are profound.

To transform that space into a community would require an interaction between these individual social spheres. We began to see such exchanges during Trans-regalia. By having her mother and daughters in traditional pow wow regalia, Cheyenne was sharing their culture and traditions with the other commuters on the bus. Through conversations that arose from the regalia, and interaction with other commuters, and an exchange of stories and ideas, these solitary commuters were moving toward a community of the most diverse and unexpected, and delightful. I would argue that Cheyenne was reclaiming the city bus from its mundane utility, and was exploring the possibilities for community-building. When thinking of education and healing, the best foundation for that starts with the sharing and interaction that comes within a community.

KELLY: It’s true that thinking about the public transit system often conjures up images of monotony; riding the bus is a very routine and day-to-day experience for most transit users, and the bus travels the same route over and over and over again. But the city bus is actually one of the most dynamic public spaces – just think of all the characters that exist in that space and all of the thoughts that may be racing through their minds at any given time. Consider, also, the different spaces, places and people, that the bus passes by. Even though the bus maintains the same route, most buses pass through a number of neighbourhoods. Take the bus that we rode that morning, the 19 Marion. It travels through a middle-class residential neighbourhood, the downtown, and past both the largest hospitals in the city and the largest community college, among other things. I agree with you, Aaron, Cheyenne was smart to tap into the infinite possibilities that can take place on the bus and at bus stops – just think of the movement that Rosa Parks sparked!

AARON: Oh yeah, bus stops. My favourite part of the whole experience, from the beginning waiting for the bus, to meeting up with the APTN camera crew at the end for a walk down busy noonday downtown Portage, was transferring to the next bus in the Saint Boniface neighbourhood, and there, at that bus stop, watching the parade of cars slow as they watched back at us, seeing a practical line up of drivers take the time to take in something it seemed they had not had the pleasure of encountering their whole lives.

KELLY: I think my favourite thing about the experience was just the feeling that I received from being with Cheyenne and her family – I felt incredibly happy and welcome. And I know that sounds cliché, but it is honest. Although it was only for a morning, Cheyenne’s “moving installation” in the dynamic setting of a city bus, socially engaged our fellow commuters, subtly, in community issues such as reclaiming traditional indigenous culture in a society and context where such traditions are being overshadowed by the dominant colonizing culture.