Sky Hopinka portrays the life and resistance of First Nations in North America. In his multimedial practice, he shows the ways in which culture takes shape throughout landscapes, infrastructure, social structures and poetry. The Island Weights is a film about the origin myth of Ho-Chunk (‘The People of the Great Voice’), a land stretching from the Red Banks to Trempealeau, from Minneapolis to Milwaukee. The creation story of this place starts with the chaos in the rotation of the earth. In order to tame this chaos, four spirits were placed at the Earth's cardinal points. They became the four weights that held the Earth as an island together. The film has five parts: Wijirawaséwe (the island weights), yoiréreginarere (the west), rek'úhuhíra (the south), hą́boguominàgara (the east), siniwagúreginągere (the north). In the film, we follow a traveler in search of these island spirits. He recounts his journey along the borders of the Ho-Chunk area, through land and river, lakes and forests, as well as contemporary shopping malls and urbanised areas. The traveler seeks the spirits to honor them, as an expression of his individual connection to the cosmic story of the world.

2021 - HD video, 16mm film scans, stereo, 2-channel, synchronous loop, 10'

Courtesy of the artist