Brian Jungen

In his works, Brian Jungen (born in Fort St. John in 1970) explores the complex relationship between Indigenous and global culture. Born to a Swiss- Canadian father and a mother from the Dane-zaa First Nation, he considers aspects of culturally diverse identity, which he captures in drawings, sculptures, and installations. Most of his works are inspired by products of global pop and consumer culture, which he juxtaposes against shapes and motifs drawn from Indigenous traditions. This produces works that constantly question established notions of us and them and ask what has been adapted, appropriated, and forced upon people.

Ink on paper, 35.7 x 27.1 cm

Untitled is an early drawing by Brian Jungen, in which the artist refers to the supposedly clear distinction between the focuses of two cultures. The small ink drawing on plain paper shows two signposts in a rustic rural style, with signs reading “First Nation” and “Second Nature.” The signs point in opposite directions, which can be read as an allusion to the issue of the cultural boundaries drawn between Indigenous Canadians (First Nations) and the ethnically European population. Apart from the genocide they suffered, members of the First Nations were long disadvantaged socially and politically, and their traditions and languages were suppressed through government assimilation campaigns. Jungen addresses this colonial legacy in his work, offsetting cultural uprootedness against a future created by technology.