Chippewa artist's teaser poster for Blood Quantum gets thumbs up from Jeff Barnaby
A Toronto-based Chippewa artist says a recent commission to design a teaser poster for Jeff Barnaby’s new zombie film Blood Quantum was right up his alley.
“I’m a huge horror movie fan and to see some representation in the horror genre is really cool,” said Jay Soule.
Soule, also known as Chippewar, is known for politically driven installation pieces that draw attention to issues facing Indigenous people across Canada.
He also has a clothing line and paints his own interpretations of classic film posters by indigenizing the titles and images.
He was approached by Elevation Pictures to create a teaser poster for Barnaby’s new film, which premiered last year at Toronto International Film Festival.
The film’s premise is that an apocalyptic zombie virus is sweeping the nation and the only people who seem to be immune are part of a fictional First Nations reserve. As people flee to the reserve, the main characters have to decide whether to let outsiders in, risking their own safety.
The film and its title offer a commentary on colonization and the concept of blood quantum as a measure of one’s indigeneity.
Soule said he’s probably seen the film four or five times and has created three pieces, one for a TIFF zine and another for the cover of NOW magazine.
The latest rendition will be used for promotional purposes leading up to the film’s theatrical release in April.
For Soule, a horror genre lover, the film was already in his wheelhouse of interest.
“It was hand in hand with already what I’m doing with indigenizing classic film,” he said.
Under his pseudonym Chippewar, Soule recreates classic film posters with an Indigenous spin, like turning The Breakfast Club into The No-breakfast Club or Back to the Future into Back to 1491.
For Blood Quantum, “I went for that old grindhouse-style poster from the late ’70s when the posters were still hand-drawn,” he said.
Barnaby said he wasn’t familiar with Soule’s work prior to being introduced by Elevation, which surprised him.
“What he does with posters, I do with films,” said Barnaby.
The Mi’kmaw director said he’s very happy with Soule’s work on the teaser poster.
“It looks like a kickass action movie,” he said.
“I would go see the film based solely on that poster.”