Walking with Andrew

Winnipeg composer Andrew Balfour is something of a road warrior! For his upcoming performance art project Take the Indian: A Vocal Reflection on Missing Children, an important part of his daily routine has involved waking up early and taking a long walk around the city’s downtown.

Balfour says he draws artistic inspiration from the diversity of people and sights he observes.
“I live in such a multicultural area, and there is so much history here! The First Nations people have been here for thousands of years, before the pyramids, before the time of Christ!”
He takes a similar route every day, starting at the Legislature, and meandering along the River Walk towards The Forks, where he eventually ends up at Union Station. This walk has been a significant source of inspiration for Balfour’s Take the Indian. Balfour would use the walk as personal space, away from his craft and tools of writing. Kind of Monet-esque, the idea of getting away from the studio and reflecting on the art.
I had the privilege of accompanying Balfour on one of his walks, and here are some snaps I took along the way:

"Something I like to think about while I’m walking along this water, is how long ago did it come from the mountains? Weeks, months ago? It has flowed through here for thousands and thousands of years. I like to ponder the tiny blip that we are as humans - I mean think about it, we’ve only been around for 50,000 years - that’s nothing! We’ve kidnapped Mother Earth, and we’ve kind of overthought, overwrought and overrun this entire planet with our way of thinking."

“I love this area, because this is the Legislature conservatory, the ‘Ledge Grounds’, where all the maintenance happens. There are all kinds of sounds in this area. Like this constant drone sound that is always here. I would love to compose a piece around this drone sound, it’s one of my favourite sounds!”

Balfour started writing Take the Indian during the week that Tina Fontaine's body was found in the Red River. The piece has a weighty feminine aspect to it - many of the testimonies that inspired Balfour were those of women who have suffered from some form of sexual abuse.

Andrew has observed the construction of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights right from the beginning of the building project.“The Museum is not just meant to be about human rights, but rather as a structure built on dialogue.”