North-South-East-West Catalogue presented with talk at Research in Art 2014
The North-South-East-West Catalogue was presented with a talk at the Research in Art Salon 53 in Ottawa Canada on October 8, 2014
With the launch of the North-South-East-West project in 2003, medicine-wheel.co, Thompson received invitations to exhibit his work in North America, Asia and Europe. The new North-South-East-West Catalogue records the history of project and is available from Blurb Books of San Francisco. The catalogue was launched with a 45 minute talk at Research in Art in 2014 which included a travelogue of shows in Canada, USA, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Australia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Russia and France. The talk also included a guided tour of the North-South-East-West interactive video, with an emphasis on the relevance of medicine wheel teachings to contemporary life styles by inter-relating the following 5 concepts:
– the 4 cardinal directions (East, South, West, North),
– the 4 stages of life (birth, youth, adulthood, old age),
– the 4 challenges of life (survival, vision, path, wisdom),
– the 4 positions of the sun (sun rise, noon, sunset, night) and
– the 4 seasons (spring, summer, fall, and winter).
Graham Thompson’s Biography
Ottawa media artist Graham Thompson discovered midlife that he was a Cree Metis with Red River family connections to British explorer Samuel Hearn and Metis rebel leader Louis Riel. This genealogical research lead to the study of Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge. His work in Algonquin talking circles and sweat lodges triggered, with a generous grant from ED Video, the creation of the North-South-East-West Project, an interactive Web-based Medicine Wheel. Thompson has won awards for his media work from the European Film Festival MEFEST, the International Digital Art Awards of Melbourne Australia, Cool Site of the Day of New York and the Common Wealth Vision Awards of England.
SHERRY PAINTS 