Ancestral Gratitude Bridge (2022)  and other works

Overview

Tahila Mintz engages with ancestral systems of matriarchy, gender equality and contemporary issues impacting Indigenous societies. Ancestral Gratitude Bridge (2022) is a 360-degree virtual reality film expanding on the original narratives and teachings of Haudenosaunee. Traversing land and sea, the footage weaves intimate interactions within Haudenosaunee and Sharjah’s landscapes, fauna and flora, invoking the primacy and universality of Indigenous communities’ reciprocal relationship with the natural world. Sharing. Kindness. Gratitude. RESPECT (2023), the accompanying four-channel audiovisual work, augments the film’s sweeping landscapes with intimate explorations around water, native fauna as well as ancestral practices of gratitude and respect.

My Grandmothers’ Light Shines Through Me (2022) and Woman and Earth (2023) are two complementary series of large-scale analogue portraits of Indigenous women.
The series pay tribute to matrilineal and matriarchal systems of societal organisation, evoking notions of strength and empowerment through the interwoven relationship between women and land. This relationship is fundamental to the Haudenosaunee women and Emirati women. Audio recordings provide further insight into each subject’s practice and mode of perception.