Invisible Empires

Deanna Bowen: Invisible Empires is generously sponsored by Partners in Art.

Director, Producer, Researcher: Deanna Bowen

“The Klan Comes to Town” Executive Producer: Scott McLaren

Cast: Grand Dragon Calvin Craig — Walter Rinaldi, Titan George Sligh — Oliver Bourque, Robert Hoyt — Russell Bennett, Reverend James Bevel — Wes Williams

Wardrobe/Seamstress: Jill Tomac
Videography: Chris Behnisch

Sound Recordist, Post Production Sound: Chandra Bulucon, Puppy Machine Productions

Production, Research & Studio Assistant: Iqrar Rivzi

Production assistance also from: York University Film/Video Department (Marcos Arriaga, Bill Byers), Gallery 44, Images Festival (Pablo de Ocampo, Scott Berry), Fearless Films, Lewis Kaye Casting Agency, Justina M. Barnicke Gallery (University of Toronto)

In Memoriam: William Peter Baergen (1935-2013)

Press:


Invisible Empires, Art Gallery of York University, 2013

Carry Forward, Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery, 2018

Black Drones in the Hive, Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery, 2021


“1911 Anti Creek-Negro Petition” from Immigration of Negroes from the United States to Western Canada 1910-1911., edition 1/2, 2013. Inkjet print on archival paper, 21.59 cm × 27.94 cm.


Detail:  Activities of Ku Klux Klan Organizations in the United States: Hearings before the Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, Eighty-Ninth Congress, First and Second Sessions.  Set of five printed volumes plus index, each 15.0 x 23.2 cm, variable page numbers, 1966
Installation View: “The Klan Comes to Town” from This Hour Has Seven Minutes, CBC Studios, Toronto, October 24, 1965.  2013, Plywood stage installation, klan robes (2), mannequins (2), black curtains, table, glass ashtray, stage lights (2), tulip chairs (4), LCD monitor and stand, single channel video.
Exterior vitrine panels: Klan Banner No. 2, 3, & 4 from Catalogue of Official Robes and Banners of the Ku Klux Klan. Incorporated. Atlanta, Georgia. 2013, printed plexiglass, flourescent tubing, electronic timer, 93.35 × 214 cm.
“Freedom Ride” Performance Bus video documentation. Performers Shelley Hamilton, Archer Pechawis, and Reena Katz.
Ku Klux Klan Klode Kard – 2012, archival inkjet on photo paper, 74.1 × 94.5 cm.
Front Installation View: American Klans — Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Presented to Calvin F. Craig, Grand Dragon Realm of Georgia by Walter E. Fisher, June 6, 1966.  2013,  light trans print, plexiglass lightbox, 121.92 × 152.4 cm.

Reproductions of Grand Dragon Calvin Craig & Titan George Sligh Ku Klux Klan Robe.  2013, Satin, embroidery, variable dimensions.
Reproductions of Grand Dragon Calvin Craig & Titan George Sligh Ku Klux Klan Robe.  2013, Satin, embroidery, variable dimensions.
Detail: AGYU Newsletter image – “Appendix D: KKK Threat to Fran Fraser.” The Ku Klux Klan in Central Alberta. 
Baergen, William Peter. Edmonton: Central Alberta Historical Society, 2000. 296. Print.
“The Klan Comes to Town” from This Hour Has Seven Minutes, CBC Studios, Toronto, October 24, 1965. Recorded January 5-6, 2013 at Art Gallery of York University, Toronto, ON.
Centre Gallery Installation View: “1911 Anti Creek-Negro Petition” from Immigration of Negroes from the United States to Western Canada 1910-1911.  2013, inkjet print on archival paper, 21.59 × 27.94 cm. Edition 1/2.
“1911 Anti Creek-Negro Petition” from Immigration of Negroes from the United States to Western Canada 1910-1911.  
2013, inkjet print on archival paper, 21.59 × 27.94 cm. Edition 1/2.

“Documents Related to the 1911 Anti Creek-Negro Petition” 
(on bench) Bound softcover book.  2013, inkjet print on paper, 21.59 × 27.94 cm.

Audio documentation of performed “Paul Good/Robert Shelton Character Study” by Deanna Bowen & Russell Bennett from The Paul Good Papers (on bench).  2013, mp3 player, digital audio file, approx. 27 minutes.
Loyal Orange Lodge, Strathcona Branch. Edmonton, Alberta, est. 1901. Site of Toronto Headquarters Canadian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Toronto, Ontario, 1982.  2013, archival inkjet on photo paper, 81.8 × 104.6 cm.

Imperial Klouncil, Kanadian Knights of Ku Klux Klan. Vancouver, B.C. 1926.  2013, archival inkjet on photo paper, 81.8 × 104.6 cm.

Ku Klux Klan of Kanada Oath of Allegiance, Oath of Secrecy from Manual of the Order of Citizenship Invisible Empire Knights and Ladies of the Ku Klux Klan of Canada: the Rituals and Ceremonies.  2013, archival inkjet on photo paper, 81.8 × 104.6 cm.
The Vancouver Sun, Wednesday February 5, 1964, p.3, The Windsor Star. Wednesday February 5, 1964, The Globe and Mail. Wednesday February 5, 1964, p. 1.  Archival Inkjet print on photo paper 31 1/16 x 40 1/16 inches

Klan U.K.A. Rally (Macon, GA.) c. 1964.
  Archival Inkjet print on photo paper 28 1/8 x 42 1/16 inches.

“Reporting: Trouble in Notasulga,” Time Magazine, Friday, February 14, 1964 | Vol. 83 No. 7.  Archival Inkjet print on photo paper Series of 3 20 x 26 1/16 inches
“We Got Nothing to Hide,” Harold H. Martin & Kenneth Fairly, original photography by Lynn Pelham. Saturday Evening Post, January 30, 1965.  2012, Series of 5 Bi-Panel Original Documents 20 x 26 1/16 inches