"Hairpiece" was a site-specific video installation and live performance in a hair salon in Thunder Bay during October of 1989

Spirit Wrestlers

They chant and walk to the southwest. They chant and walk from Winnipeg. It is mid-afternoon on the day before Halloween in 1907. A woman and ten men walk into the streets of Fort William. They wear blue robes. They chant and walk and their blue floats over the brown of the streets. They chant and walk and their blue shimmers against the autumn sweep of the wetland scrub trees.

They chant and walk into Fort William. They chant and walk into The Swamp. The local citizenry is spellbound. Only in the evening, and only in the taverns, do they talk about these blue-robed walkers, who remain through the winter in a rented house at Dease and May.

They chant and walk and it is freezing. They leave the house at Dease and May to chant and walk to Ray Street. It is freezing and not one of these women and men wears clothing. They chant and walk naked and wrestle the spirit. Hundreds of the Fort William citizenry line the streets to watch this parade.

They chant and walk and reach Ray Street. They chant and walk and are diverted into a poolroom by the local authorities. They chant and walk in the poolroom. They chant and walk around the pool tables. They chant and walk and are sent home by the local authorities. For the remainder of the winter, the women and men chant and walk in public places. Local authorities insist these parades be restricted to the confines of their rented home. On one occasion, two Fort William men are apprehended during an attempt to sneak into the house at Dease and May.

They chant and walk and in April of 1908, a group of nineteen naked chanters and walkers is arrested. A Fort William magistrate by the name of Palling rules a six-month sentence is in order. The nineteen women and men remove the blankets covering them and chant and walk naked in the jail.

They chant and walk and on April 27 of 1908, federal authorities intervene and demand the chanters and walkers be railroaded to Yorkton in Saskatchewan. The blue-robed spirit-wrestlers chant and walk to the railroad cars. They chant and walk and chant on the train. Fort William is a terminal town.