Fogo Island Monologues

Last week UBC's Liu Institute for Global Issues hosted Fogo Island Dialogues: Islands, Sovereignty and Decolonial Futures, a weird event that had Fogo Island's Strategic Director Nicolaus Schafhausen lap-topping a list of disconnected questions at Documenta 14 curatorial advisor Candice Hopkins and curator Monika Szweczyk, bookended by a presentation by Linnea Dick and another by her father, Chief Beau Dick, who, with the encouragement of Candice, will travel with his entourage to Documenta 14's Athens platform this spring to perform his brand of social sculpture at the Acropolis.

Although we in the audience were told by Nicolaus and the Documenta-rians that they were here to engage in some "deep listening" and "learn from the west coast," it was the audience who listened (without an invitation to ask questions) to Linnea's good-natured testimonial on the importance of Beau in her life ("He is my father, but he is also my chief"), Candice's direct informational responses, Monika's lyrical musings, and an amazing story by Beau that, in a perfectly roundabout way, told us how Linnea's Kwakwaka'wakw name, Malidi ("to always find a purpose and a path in life"), was chosen.