Why the Caged Bird Sings—Immersive Engagements

Why the Caged Bird Sings—Immersive Engagements is a multi-year provincial touring solo exhibition of immersive works by interdisciplinary artist Cheryl L’Hirondelle. These works emerged from her decades-long commitment to engaging in collaborative songwriting processes with incarcerated populations in Saskatchewan. L’Hirondelle began working with Common Weal Community Arts inside Saskatchewan corrections facilities in 2008. This was the beginning of a long, productive partnership with the Governor General award-winning artist. By its nature, L’Hirondelle’s practice finds the expansive within the impossibly constricted. For this exhibition, she brought the northern landscape into the white cube of a gallery and turned a parking lot into a place of joyful connection in the midst of a pandemic, drawing out the uncontainable spirit that exists in each person.

The exhibition first opened at the Mann Art Gallery in Prince Albert in September of 2020. Many visitors experienced it first at the Drive-In Karaoke opening—a COVID-safe way for people to engage with the exhibition and held in the gallery parking lot. The evening was led by Cheryl along with guest singers, who accompanied the audience in karaoke versions of the songs written in corrections so visitors could sing along from their cars and lawn chairs. Throughout the evening, attendees were invited to come through the gallery in small groups to experience the work. The evening was warm-hearted, with give-aways including drive-in style food, moss patterned face-masks handmade by Cheryl, and virtual reality visors to view one of the artworks on Vimeo. The second half of the event featured a danceable set by VJ Carrie Gates and DJ Tim Janke (AKA Stimmy the Whale). As the sun dipped behind the horizon and the evening sky began to glow orange, projected images became visible on the wall of windows behind the stage, creating a massive visual display. The projected exhibition videos continued to be displayed on the windows of the E. A. Rawlinson Centre, where the Mann Art Gallery is located, for the duration of the exhibition, viewable from the street and the bridge leading over the river. These outreach strategies not only succeeded in sharing the exhibition with regular gallery visitors who didn’t feel comfortable entering the gallery at this time but reached many people who would never visit galleries at all. 

Next, we published a comprehensive catalogue Why the Caged Bird Sings—Immersive Engagements, building on the foundation set with 2017’s Axenet’i Tha’ll publication. In her curatorial statement, Northern Artistic Director Judy McNaughton speaks to Cheryl’s relationship with Common Weal, which began in 2008 when we “invited Cheryl to initiate an intensive songwriting experience at the Pine Grove Correctional Centre in Prince Albert where approximately 95% of incarcerated women are Indigenous, a statistic common to Canadian correctional facilities where an ongoing colonial legacy of systemic inequity becomes visible in this disproportionate representation within the justice system.” Capturing this relationship and the uncontainable quality of Cheryl’s work was the focus of the publication. It’s difficult to do justice to Cheryl’s dynamic art practice, but flipping through the publication reproduces the air of expansion that’s felt when visiting the exhibition. The cornerstone of the publication’s writing is a critical essay by Dr. Julie Nagam, the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Arts, Collaboration, and Digital Media at the University of Winnipeg. Julie’s essay is astute and meaningful in its description of Cheryl’s unique position in the cultural landscape, which she captures with accuracy and surprising whimsy. Julie’s academic perspective is balanced by Cheryl’s first person artist statements, which bring us deep into the intent and significance of the artworks. Judy’s curatorial statement gives the reader a feel of the highly sensory quality of the exhibition, which engages the visual, auditory, spatial, olfactory, and tactile senses. The publication is completed through partner statements for context, QR codes to find details on and listen to the songs, and the artful design, featuring beautiful exhibition photographs. 

Common Weal’s programming is often unseen by the broader society and the learning that occurs can be hard to share. This publication aims to make some of this learning visible while never straying from our commitment to center the communities we serve. This commitment is further grounded in the publication dedication, which names co-writers who are no longer with us, noting “Your spirits will live on through the powerful words you contributed in the writing and singing of these songs.”

In the summer of 2023, In partnership with the Dunlop Art Gallery, we brought the second iteration of Why the Caged Bird Sings—Immersive Engagements exhibition to the gallery’s Regina Central and Sherwood branches. The exhibition planning and installations were intensive and uncompromising, but the outcomes were fabulous! The exhibition incorporates images and sounds of Indigenous territories, materials, songs, dance, and current realities of incarceration conveyed through technologies familiar to contemporary viewers. These include 360° VR music videos, video projections, and Sound Shower directional speakers, providing immersive experiences. This mix of multi-sensory and technical engagement intrigued a cross-section of viewers, particularly youth, in a way that is rare for gallery settings.

Arrangements of choice songs from the exhibition were performed by stellar Indigenous Saskatchewan musicians Berk Jodion and Krystle Pederson during the Regina Folk Festival and again as part of the Street Karaoke event during Nuit Blanche Regina. Hearing these songs sung by professional musicians was stunning; their voices and arrangements brought entirely new resonance to the songs written in corrections. The adjunct events were unique in that they brought together diverse audiences and participants in a way that felt quite natural. This was particularly evident in the Street Karaoke event, which brought in participants from the arts and music communities as well as unhoused people who populate the downtown of Regina. All participated equally in karaoke performances, each receiving a small performance fee. There was a jovial sense of camaraderie among the crowd that gathered through the night. A moment that stands out as both heart-breaking and yet elevating was when Berk Jodions young son, “little Berk,” took the stage during his dad’s performance, belting out “AIN’T NOTHING GOING TO BRING ME DOWN!”—a callback response in the song Can’t Break Us written by the young men at Regina's Paul Dojak correctional facility during Cheryl’s workshop—invoking an instant of renewed hope.

On March 14, 2025, The third instalment of this phenomenal, multisensorial experience. opened at PAVED Arts in Saskatoon with a warm reception. Curated by Northern Artistic Director Judy McNaughton, this years’s Why The Caged Bird Sings—Immersive Engagements features media and sensory-rich experiences using virtual reality (VR), video, hyper-directional audio, and olfactory sensations that forge immersive experiences, along with lyrics, voices, and musical arrangements from the artist’s decades-long songwriting practice with detained and incarcerated co-writers.  Cheryl was invited to present an artist talk at Kenderdine Art Gallery in the afternoon of March 14, 2025 where she discussed her practice while providing visitors with a deeper understanding of the new exhibition. Cheryl’s talk coincided with the Indigenous Achievement Week at the U of S, taking place from March 10th to 14th. Later that day, was the PAVED Arts exhibition opening reception, which was a lively event with a kitchen party energy, including a variety of visual artists, musicians, and academics among the many guests.

On the evening of April 17, 2025, the exhibition concluded with an intimate concert boasting several well-known and versatile Saskatchewan musicians performing arrangements from the original songwriting project by Cheryl L’Hirondelle, interspersed with original songs by musical guests, including Berk Jodoin, Stacey Springall (and the Real Deal) and Nikamok. Special guest Lindsay Knight (AKA  Eekwol)  joined the ensemble, free-styling to the delight of the packed house. In the spirit of the project, audience members danced and sang along with the roster of musicians, which also included Joseph Naytowhow, Helen Pridmore, Aspen Beveridge, Romeo Klyne, Kurtis Kopp, and Ross Nykiforuk.  The concert’s  infectious camaraderie seemed to echo the spirit of radical inclusion Cheryl had manifested in her original corrections song wiring collaborations, and the empathy we were able to feel in the immersive artworks they inspired.