John Notten

Stronghold       2019

Nuit Blanche Toronto

Stronghold’s tall wooden walls of crude, sharpened posts configure a four-sided fortification reminiscent of early European settler forts.  Installed in the shadow of Toronto’s Fort York, it offers an iconic symbol of authority, protection, and power.  At the same time, it draws to mind the relationships of exclusion and domination that underpin Canada’s nation-building project, which are premised upon colonial logics of “us versus them”.  The viewer is invited into the structure and offered an unexpected setting that dramatically contrasts the steadfast garrison of the exterior.  Within the secure interior of this structure and through the ironic use of materials, audiences can consider historical legacies of settler colonialism as well as ongoing Indigenous displacement caused by privileged practices of rural leisure.