Ryley Williams

its amazing that you exist (rework) from Ryley Williams on Vimeo.

its amazing that you exist (rework) from Ryley Williams on Vimeo.

it's amazing that you exist from Ryley Williams on Vimeo.

three distinct parts of the grainy film which include poetry, stories, and an original score. This process was guided by personal experiences and braided with insight from Indigenous artists, writers, elders and aunties. The subject matter focusses on indigenous subjects and objects in my daily exterior and personal interior. My aim is to further investigate the personal and intimate implications of Indigeneity that connect back to larger issues of dispossession and colonialism across Turtle Island. The images of settler cognitions are present in both of the stories told while also privileging anti-colonial, anti-racist, and indigenous ways of knowing and seeing.

running_h264 from Ryley Williams on Vimeo.

identitty_final from Ryley Williams on Vimeo.

Nothing To My Name approaches contrasting identities— exterior/interior, cowboy/Indian, stoic/ vulnerable— which occur simultaneously within the same character. The role of the cliche- lonesome-cowboy speaks to the insensitive characteristics of a stoic man whom is trapped by the tropes of his own identity. The fire is a scene of leisure where he smokes and drinks to his liking after, presumably, a long day working on the range. The second character, behind a warm wooden backdrop reminiscent of a cabin or a sauna, exhibits erotic vulnerability. He looks directly into the camera lens wearing nothing but lipstick and mouths something to you but it is muted by the crackle of wood burning. “Nothing to my name” is a play on words for the artist as his given name, unlike that of a typical First Nations person, is not connected to any family lineage or spiritual belief. Nothing To My Name meditates upon the artists split heritage through embodying contrasting characters that represent settler colonial identity and the identity of a queer native person while navigating hegemonic powers that are at play when distinguishing these identities.

shoo

somewhere