Big Small Talk with Collective Co-Conspirator: Christopher Wong

BIG Small Talk with Collective Co-Conspirator: Christopher Wong

By Sasha Kucas

BIG small talk is a chance to introduce people that Harbour Collective work with behind the scenes. Sasha Kucas speaks with Christopher Wong for a fun conversation of BIG small talk.

The sun prevents this family-oriented wolf from staying in bed and scrolling on his phone. Instead, he gets out of bed to do numerous projects, attend to his family, go to the gym, and walk in nature. After a nutritious breakfast fit for yoga gurus everywhere of granola, strawberries, and yogurt, this playful, easy-going filmmaker basks in the sunlight while sitting on his mother’s porch. He shares his thoughts about writing, aliens, and how he would empower Indigenous People through martial arts.

Tell me about your involvement with Harbour.

I met Liz Barron and Jason Baerg through Laura Margita at Gallery 101 in Ottawa. I have known Jason for over ten years and Liz now for five years. Working in the same fields and being involved in Indigenous Arts, our paths cross at various events here and there. Then, when they started the Harbour Collective, I worked more closely with them. I work with the Asinabka Film Festival in Ottawa. I also work with the Bawaadan Collective based out of Hamilton.

What medium do you love to work with and why?

My first medium is writing. I love writing because it works with my spontaneity. I can write anywhere, anytime, and it costs nothing. There is not a lot of technology involved. I can use a traditional pen and paper or phone to record notes and ideas. I have always loved writing. It is the basis for other works, whether I do filmmaking or music. I start with my writing.

What inspires or motivates you?

A lot. Nature. My own Indigenous culture. My family. Dreams that I have about the future. I would like to see Indigenous Peoples in North America and all people united through martial arts and with a basis to work together. I think that could happen through martial arts. It would be empowering.

From what you have created, what is your most meaningful piece?

I worked on a collaboration with Bawaadan on this poem on #blacklivesmatter. We interpreted moments of civil rights in the black community as similar to those of the Indigenous People. We are experiencing the same racism and oppression with things like the death of Joyce Echaquan, murdered by the Quebec healthcare system of negligence and racism. It is an ongoing thing in Canada. Issues facing Tina Fontaine and Colten Boushie and the injustices are the same as the black experience in America. We should recognize that we are marching on the same path in our fight towards freedom, equality, dignity, and all those human rights things.

What are you working on right now?

Right now, I am working on grants.

I am also working on an experimental documentary about the Indigenous People and their relationship with water. It is not just the Anishinaabe doing water walks around the Great Lakes. There is a worldwide movement in Standing Rock called Water is Life. The Maori recognize the spirit of water as alive. In places like Ecuador, they are nationalizing the idea that water has individuality and is a person, just like corporations are recognized as people, which is so strange.

What do you value most in life?

Simple things like safety; I am very paranoid and cautious of everything. Family, friends, good times; I value love and having some laughs with new people.

If you could re-live a moment, what would you choose to re-live?

The birth of my daughter was a pretty special moment. When born, they open their eyes, look around, and are ready to go. That was pretty awesome.

If you could possess a superpower, what would it be and why?

I would love to be able to breathe underwater. I would travel underwater like that and explore, like Aquaman or in the New Wakanda Forever. The Mayan dude in the movie takes his people back to the ocean, and they all go underwater. They made the Indigenous People the water people.

What do you think about garden gnomes?

I love them. Funny story – I used to drive around the Saugeen Peninsula where I live and hunt for racist garden gnomes. I would steal them late at night then set them free the next day.

What would you do if you won the lottery?

There is an island called Kokoko Island in the Georgian Bay. Around a hundred years ago, an Indian agent sold it to his daughter for a dollar without telling the Nawash band. We have been trying to get this island back, and now the price to buy this island is twenty million dollars – twenty million would go to buy the island. The remaining ten million would build a martial arts dojo with a joint yoga studio. I would invite Indigenous People from everywhere to come and live there, plant corn, wild rice, all crops, and train. On-site survival skills would also be available.

What is the most intriguing thing you have read or seen this week?

Historically, the Quechua people were mummifying people in the mountains. Mummified alien bodies from the Sara Sara region in Peru are now on display at a museum in Mexico. I suspect they had these bodies under lock and key for many years and never wanted to show them. Now, these tiny one-foot-high people are on display. They look like little green men with elongated heads and three fingers. I find that cool. Indigenous People spoke about little people for hundreds if not thousands of years. I think they have always been here, to be honest. And they are just keeping this information from us because it would be like giving a loaded gun to a baby.

What is your favourite food? Restaurant?

Bobby’s Table in Ottawa is a little hole-in-the-wall on Montreal Road and is my favourite restaurant. The neighbourhood is rough, but the staff is patient with their customers, and the food tastes like home-cooked food. Everything on the menu tastes great and is half the price of most restaurants.

My favourite food is called Hakka food. It is from the border between China and India. My sister-in-law from India introduced me to this incredible food fusion. It is the best of India and China- the food is spicy and good. The countries were on the verge of a world war. Soldiers refused to fight each other with tanks and jets and instead put all their weapons down and fought with their fists, all hand-to-hand combat to prevent WWIII.

What do you think about it before you fall asleep?

Last night, I thought about aliens, stars, constellations and light, history, space, and animals. I was so fired up last night that I took the cover off the roof of my tent to see the stars and hear the animals.

If the day warrants, you might see Wong writing somewhere inspired to make art, singing Roxanne by the Police, doing some yoga, or maybe playing Monsters and Mayhem. If lucky, Chris might invite you to hunt for garden gnomes. If that happens, expect to laugh and have a good time.

Bagowji (Christopher Wong) is an artist from Nawash Unceded First Nation and based out of Ottawa, unceded Algonquin Territory, Canada. A producer/director with the Indigenous Canadian artist union Bawaadan Collective and the Asinabka Festival, he is also an active volunteer in the Ottawa arts and cultural community, including the Odawa Native Friendship Centre, DARC (formerly SAW Video) and Gallery 101. Bagowji enjoys making mixtapes and playing DJ sets of Wigwam Nagamowin, Anishnabe blended house music, which he has performed at the Pique Festival, Drone Day, Club SAW, Gallery 101 and various events.

Bagowji Soundcloud: