Buffalo Postcards

Want to get some "real mail"?

In this post, you are invited to collaborate with us on the “buffalo card project” which will be part of our exhibit in the group show “The View from the Edge of the World” hosted by the Art Gallery of Regina from August 18 - October 22, 2023

First, a little background

Before we get to the buffalo postcards, we need to tell you about the buffalo canvas - which began as an old work canvas of my (Sue’s) dad’s. It is worn and has oil spots and other stains here and there. It has the feel of a pair of much-loved denim jeans – just before they rip!  

Buffalo canvas before the buffalo were added. Experimenting with buffalo stamps

I carved lino buffalo silhouettes, a small cow/calf herd of about a dozen individuals, and then slowly stamped these on the canvas. Since July 2022, I have been photographing the canvas in places buffalo might have lived (everywhere). This is a personal process as I seek to re-insert the buffalo back onto the land and especially into my settler imagination. The buffalo canvas is a way for me to understand and come to know this place I call home more deeply.

Photographing the buffalo canvas where buffalo might have lived (everywhere)

Vera has also spent time photographing the buffalo canvas on the land. She says, “I had never imagined what buffalo wandering this land actually looked like, so I’d say just imagining this has changed me. I’ve started to think about things differently. Recently, while editing a photo, I noticed 3 cattle close to the edge of the vast landscape. What would it have looked like with buffalo everywhere? And then I thought, how would I feel if all the cows were killed…every cow dead.”

Can you spot the cows? Now, imagine buffalo everywhere.

Next Steps

Soon, I will begin to slowly cut many of the buffalo out, one by one, to symbolize their extirpation. With each cut and removal of a buffalo, the warp and weave of the fragile canvas will deteriorate. In a similar way, the slaughter of buffalo (a keystone species) has had a devastating effect on the ecosystems they were an integral part of.

What does the buffalo canvas have to do with our collaboration?

We often hear the misleading statement that “the buffalo disappeared”. The buffalo did not disappear. They were were exterminated viciously and intentionally - many between the years 1860 and 1883. In a similar way, the small remnants of land that are currently being bulldozed are not “disappearing” - both lack of political will and societal understanding of what is being lost, as well as an over-emphasis on efficiency all contribute to their destruction.

The buffalo canvas connects today's destruction of small remnants of land in the midst of agricultural fields to the long sweep of destruction, violence and control of both land and movement since colonization. As settlers, we often lament changes in rural Saskatchewan. Often, however, our memories only extend back to our grandparents or great grandparents. The extirpation of the buffalo, and the genocide of Indigenous peoples are both part of the true history of this land. Vera and I understand that we can’t come to know this land better without a true understanding of our history, and how this influences our thinking today. We are both learning and unlearning.

As I cut each buffalo out of the canvas, I think of them as “spirit buffalo” whose spirits never really left this land. I also see them as the “return of the buffalo” as dreamed or imagined by the Buffalo Treaty and necessary to the healing of both the land and people. Buffalo are returning to the land - to Indigenous nations, parks and ranches.

Where You Come In – the Buffalo Postcards

The buffalo postcard project invites those of you who live in the former range of the buffalo (see map below) to join us in re-inserting buffalo back onto the land we call home (if only symbolically) and also into your own consciousness. (Some of you work with buffalo - we are very excited to see your photos!)

Source: https://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/bison-maps

If You Would Like to Receive a Buffalo Postcard to Join Us

1. In the comments below, tell us you would like to receive a buffalo postcard.

2. When it arrives, place it where you will see it often so you can spend some with it. 

3. After a few days, cut the buffalo out. We have started this cut for you, and although scissors work, it is a little easier with an exacto or utility knife.

4. Where do you imagine the buffalo roaming? Take photos of yourself (and your family or friends) with the cutout buffalo and the postcard at that place. 

5. Take as many pictures as you like. We would love to see you in one of the photos, but photos of just the cutout buffalo and/or the card are welcome too.

6. Email your photos to us by June 30, 2023.

7. If you want, please include your reflections as we would love to hear them. 

8. We will ask your permission to include your photo or reflections in the show.

9. The buffalo and card are yours to keep.

   Some Examples

   

   

“Where will the frogs sing?” is the collaboration of two rural settler artists responding to the beauty and destruction of remnants of land in Saskatchewan’s aspen parkland to encourage discourse on the land’s intrinsic value.