Dolphins, ships and other vessels

In this performance reading, artist duo Bambitchell continue their exploration of the legal frameworks that govern non-human animals and objects, moving from the territorial jurisdictions explored in their film Bugs & Beasts Before the Law (2019), to the legal realm of the sea. Dolphins, ships and other vessels is a polyvocal narrative that spans bodies of water. Stretching from Te Moana-o-Raukawa, to the South China Sea, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and the Clyde and Kaniatarowanenneh Rivers, the narrative traces the disappearance and reappearance of a dolphin, the reincarnations of ships, and the embodiments of Jinn—as vessels, mammals, water, myth, and law.

With performances by Sukaina Kubba & Faraz Anoushahpour. Sound Design by Richy Carey

Bambitchell is the artistic collaboration between Sharlene Bamboat and Alexis Kyle Mitchell. Since 2009, their research-based practice has taken form through moving image, installation and performance to reimagine nationalist histories—playfully recycling official state documents and institutional archives. 

Their works have been exhibited at festivals and galleries such as Mercer Union (Toronto), International Film Festival Rotterdam, Berlin International Film Festival, Dazibao (Montreal), and the BFI London Film Festival (UK). Their practice has been the subject of writing in Artforum, the Brooklyn Rail, Canadian Art, and the book Contemporary Citizenship, Art, and Visual Culture: Making and Being Made (Routledge, 2017). The duo held fellowships at Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, Germany (2016-2017), The MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire (2018) and The Darling Foundry in Montreal (2019). Bambitchell were long-listed for the 2020 Sobey Art Award through the National Gallery of Canada.

Dolphins, ships and other vessels is presented in the context of the Bugs & Beasts Before the Law Colloquium, an interdisciplinary forum that examines the way sociolegal systems mediate and oppress personhood, while leveraging the power of art to explore possibilities of survival and collective liberation. The colloquium takes inspiration from the film Bugs & Beasts Before the Law (2019) by the artist collaboration Bambitchell, and which is scheduled to be on view at the Henry in winter/spring 2021.