Natalie Majaba Waldburger

Throughout this residency, I contemplated my role as both an artist and a visitor to the park, situated at the base of the majestic Sacred Buffalo Guardian Mountain. Given the complex history of colonial settlement in the area, we, as residents, grappled with our responsibilities as artists in the realm of cultural production. This responsibility included acknowledging the sacred territories of multiple indigenous nations, including the Bearspaw, Chiniki, and Goodstoney First Nations, the Tsuut'ina First Nation, and the Blackfoot Confederacy, comprised of the Siksika, Piikani, and Kainai Nations.

    While exploring the park, engaging in hikes, and observing the landscape, it was impossible to ignore the history of human settlement in the region. Notably, the Banff Springs Hotel, a historic luxury establishment that resembled a European castle, prominently jutted from the mountainside. This led me to conduct in-depth research into the hotel's origins and its role in the historical narrative of Banff's settlement. My research extended to examining the material history of the hotel and its influence on the early tourism trade, which contributed to the complex history of the construction of the Canadian National Railway. Constructed from local stone and wood sourced from the Banff mountains and forests, the hotel symbolized both the colonization of land and the extraction of local materials.