Edouard Beaupré is known for being one of the tallest men in recorded history. His legacy as the “Géant de Willow Bunch” has permeated Fransaskois culture and the French immersion curriculum. For a number of years, Jessie Ray Short has investigated Beaupré’s Métis lineage and in this candid conversation with Laura St. Pierre, explores why this important fact has been omitted from history.
Jessie Ray Short
Jessie Ray Short is an artist, filmmaker and independent curator of Métis, Ukrainian and German descent. Her prac- tice involves uncovering connections between a myriad of topics that interest her, including, but not limited to, space and time, Indigenous and settler histories, Métis visual culture, personal narratives, spiritual and scientific belief systems, parallel universes, electricity, aliens and non-human being(s). She explores these topics using mediums such as film and video, performance art, finger weaving, sewing and writing. She’s been invited to show her work nationally and internationally, including at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre (Kingston), at La Chambre Blanche (Québec City), Art Mûr Berlin (a satellite exhibition of the Contemporary Native Art Biennial/BACA) (Germany), and at the Wairoa Maori Film Festival (New Zealand). She is deeply grateful to be based in oskana kâ-asastêki or Pile of Bones (also known as Regina) in Treaty 4 territory.