GHOSTDAYS: Spirits exhibition

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Ghost Days

A companion reflection on Terrance Houle’s performative cyanotypes

OKI 

In this newest chapter of Ghost Days, Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) Kainai and Saulteaux artist Terrance Houle returns to the land where he grew up, Sandy Beach along Calgary’s Elbow River, to create a series of performance cyanotypes. These works are not simply photographs. They are sun-activated rituals, developed in water and light, in collaboration with Natosi, the Sun, who gifts each day with illumination.

The cyanotypes are imprinted with Houle’s body, spirit, and lineage. As he lays on the land, he dreams of his mother Maxine and his grandmother May Louise Weasel Fat (Standing Alone) - Aakaisttsiiksiiaki - Many Snake Woman, whose portrait at age 17 and celebration at 100 are woven into this project. May passed in March 2025, presumed to be 108, and was the oldest recorded living Niitsitapi person. Her presence lingers in the work like a whisper, a shadow, a guide.

These images are ethereal, elemental, and deeply personal. They speak of ceremony, memory, warriors, love, death, and healing. They are offerings to the land and to the viewer, but not explanations. The use of feathers, regalia, and family heirlooms leaves traces of Houle’s lineage imprinted in the work. He avoids direct interpretation, inviting the audience to discover the spirits, stories, and spaces for themselves.

The works are grounded in Blackfoot and Saulteaux spiritualism, yet they reach beyond cultural specificity into a shared human longing for connection, to ancestors, to place, and to each other. In this way, Ghost Days continues the series’ legacy of haunting, reclamation, and tenderness.