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= 'Ashes on the Water' by Quelemia Sparrow =

The 'Podplay': Indigenous Media Art & Re-storying the Land
Conceived by Vancouver-based theatre and audio artists Adrienne Wong and Martin Kinch, Podplays are site-specific radio plays or audio 'theatre.' Listeners (or 'listener- walkers') download the Podplay audio file onto a portable listening device and follow the directions of the route described in the audio. The route corresponds with a narrative (the "play" or theatre element) that unfolds as the listener walks through the landscape. As they move the audio narrative is layered onto the 'real space' of the city, re-storying that space with the imagery and sounds conjured by the Podplay. Naturally, however, the sounds, smells and other sensory experiences of the city-scape draw into the Listener's Podplay journey, creating a unique coming-together of 'theatre-time' and real time.

Stories are the foundational narratives that substantively and ontologically connect Indigneous peoples to land. Podplays are are medium being taken up by Indigneous media artists, like Musqueam artist Quelemia Sparrow, as a way of compelling an audience to consider the relationship between land, storytelling and Indigenous place-based knowledge. By overlaying Indigneous ontologies on top of settler-colonial spatial narratives, Podplays become a powerful tool to decolonise and reclaim space.

'Ashes on the Water': A Podplay by Quelemia Sparrow
'Ashes on the Water' ('Ashes') is a Podplay written by Musqueam artist, actor and writer Quelemia Sparrow at the invitation of the Squamish First Nation. The piece was co-produced Raven Spirit Dance and commissioned by Neworld Theatre for the 2011 PuSh Festival held in Vancouver. 'Ashes' is based on the story of the Squamish First Nations' Women's Paddle Song - a song that originates from the day of the Great Vancouver Fire of 1886. On Sunday June 13th 1886, a gathering of First Nations people on the North Shore noticed the flames from accross the Burrard Inlet and travelled via canoe accross the inlet to gather the survivors on the shores of the city - the site now referred to as CRAB Park.

The opening performance of 'Ashes' during the 2011 PuSh Festival featured a site-specific dance piece choreographed by Michele Olson - a member of the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in First Nation (Yukon) and the Artistic Director of Raven Spirit Dance. Olson's coreography builds on the rhythms of the Women's Paddle Song. According to Olson, “[s]ongs do come out when you’re on a canoe journey—the rhythms of paddles, of your breath, create this underlying beat that will help you on your journey.”

'Ashes on the Water' Setting: CRAB Park
The “Ashes on the Water” Podplay takes place on the unceded, traditional and ancestral territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. The Podplay begins on the North End of Main St, Vancouver and finishes on the shores of the Burrard Inlet at colloquially-named, ‘CRAB’ Park. Officially, this space is also known as “Portside Park” – a name held by the Vancouver Port Corporation (VPC). However, the site also carries Indigenous place names. In Sḵwx̱wú7mesh the site is known as luk’luk’l, “the grove of beautiful trees”, whilst in hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ it is known as q’emq’emel’ay, “big leaf maple trees”

As well as its Indigenous linguistic significance, CRAB Park is a site of Indigenous cultural significance, traditionally used as a place of gathering. Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples would paddle across to the Burrard Inlet by canoe to gather on the shores of CRAB Park. The surrounding waters were also apart of extensive fishing grounds and wetlands shared by these Nations.

CRAB Park has also been a site of Indigenous political struggle and resistance. In the 1980’s a dispute ensued over the Parkland whereby a group of settler activists titled ‘Create a Real Accessible Beach’ (the ‘CRAB’ activists) began advocating for the creation of a neighbourhood waterfront park, laying claim to the space with a “white man’s totem”. Today the space is a memorial for the Missing and Murdered Indigneous Women of the Downtown Eastside.