ONGOING 2022



FAWN DAPHNE PLESSNER/ DEER TOUR

The Deer Tour takes listeners through 8 episodes of musically enhanced audio stories, anecdotes and reflections on settler colonial and indigenous relations to deer that explore wider questions of human-animal relationships, with a focus on the impact of colonization on the deer’s forested home. Speakers such as Fawn Daphne Plessner (S,DÁYES/Pender Island resident), Earl Claxton Jr. (WSÁNEĆ First Nation) and Jeff Corntassel (Cherokee Nation) share stories that open up an examination of the aesthetics and politics of human exceptionalism and its implications for deer communities. Themes such as kinship with more-than-human beings, (political) membership, treaties with animals, the notion of sanctuary, trophy hunting, killing and illness are explored. The tour is accessible virtually, but is also situated on S,DÁYES/Pender Island, which is within the unceded territory of the WSÁNEĆ First Nation. As an audio experience that is mindful of the legacy of human and animal relations within WSÁNEĆ territory, the Tour aims to enact one of core values of WSÁNEĆ Law: "That the origin of the living things of this world are our ancient relatives, and that they must be treated with respect.”

Fawn Daphne Plessner is an artist and academic. Her art practice centers on “doing politics” in the form of public art interventions that engage with the politics of place, and enacting, through art, a commitment to W̱SÁNEĆ First Nation Law and community in the place of her residence. Her art interventions incorporate deep research, writing, visual and text-based art, “aesthetic journalism”, and currently, audio/sound works that combine storytelling, social and political analysis, and experimental music. Her academic work includes a recent book titled ‘Doing Politics with Citizen Art’, published by Rowman and Littlefield Int., under the series title ‘Frontiers of the Political’.

Written and produced by Fawn Daphne Plessner

Original music and soundtrack design: Itamar Sitbon

Webpage design: Itamar Sitbon and Fawn Daphne Plessner
Deer illustration: Doug LaFortune
​ Copyright 2022: Fawn Daphne Plessner
​ The Deer Tour is supported in part by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Deer Tour website