Saturday, August 24th, 2024 was the last day of Tomas Jonsson’s residency stay at the Buttermaker’s House. He was heading to Calgary next but made time to have another visit with the locals and visitors during morning coffee, and to share a little bit on his project and his process.
Tomas had a box of items beside him on a small table. It contained his grandfather’s audio cassettes of family conversations, old photos of a family property in Sweden, along with legal documents and other items. “Following the passing of my father, in whose name the land is held, our relationship has adopted a different role as we untangle the personal and financial ties that bind us to the space.”
Tomas had written a letter just yesterday to a new acquaintance and decided to read it out to us, to hopefully provide insight into the unravelling of history and understanding he is working through. Here is a portion of that letter:
“I had a lot of help from my grandfather who recorded all our conversations over the phone, sometimes surreptitiously. That’s what I’ve been doing while I’ve been here is going through these materials and also reading books that are here in the community.
“I’ve had the pleasure of joining in on the daily coffee gatherings in the community. I’ve enjoyed listening to the stories and conversations while also being a bit apprehensive of what I should contribute. Most of my time here I’ve been absorbing, being in the Buttermaker’s House, occasional walks in the town and campground, and reading.
“I knew about the work of Stephan G. Stephenson and was pleased to encounter other writers such as his daughter Rosa and his grandson Stephan Benediktson. I was also glad to meet and read the accounts of Frank Sigurdson. At the same time I was digitizing and listening to the cassette archive which my family received from my grandfather.
“A few weeks ago my partner Jesse and I were on a road trip and started talking about the pending residency. Somehow it occurred to me to record the conversation and the seed of an idea to use it as a method to bring this work into some sort of shape. I started to make short videos mostly in and around the house and using the recorded tapes as soundtracks.
“This was intuitive but a system started to appear. I also channeled my grandfather and recorded, with permission, people here and friends which became soundtracks to other videos. I sent these around to get feedback and the general consensus is that I’m on a good path.”
Inside the Kaffistofa, Tomas had set up a presentation of videos he’d created so far, “In Whose Name the Land is Held.” Here is the link to his video presentation on Vimeo
Some photos from August 24th presentation and coffee gathering:
Here is a link to a blog post which was the result of his chance encounter and conversation with a couple visitors to Markerville on August 23, which had also inspired him to write the letter he read to us.
Tomas Jonsson is an artist, curator, and writer. He has curated, presented, and performed work in Canada and internationally. Tomas’ family came to Montreal from Denmark in 1969, living and travelling west until eventually deciding to stay in Calgary, where he was born in 1975. A large part of Tomas’ practice has been unraveling and understanding this trajectory, and his relation to a place he now also knows as Mohkinstsis, among other names. Tomas is currently living in oskana ka-asasteki, also known as Regina.
Buttermaker’s House Artist Residency is supported by Red Deer County and Alberta Foundation for the Arts. An award is available to qualified applicants, sponsored by INLNA (Icelandic National League of North America).