Video Out

Archival Moments In An Ongoing Story Of Power Relations

And so she found herself, she said, not Indian anymore. At least not in her Grandfather's eyes, moving through immigration, where certainly she seemed to them, East Indian. And did they, like MacKenzie King, think that East Indians are unsuited to this climate when she arrived at the Toronto Airport, and then finally began cleaning airports, and then moving west, one airport to the next: west with a family of friends, a cluster. Points of light in the starry, starry night, carrying home. From The Dreams of the Night Cleaners, Leila Sujir-The video installation works with archival historical footage in a poetic haunting of history: three pink marble video monuments to remember buried moments in national and provincial policies (in particular, in British Columbia) which continue to shape attitudes today. Although the legislation and policies restricting Asian immigration and taking away the vote from Asian Canadian and First Nations people have been changed- the attitudes remain. These video dreams address both the public and the private lives affected by these policies.