The transformative power of the film medium was realised in this project as Challenge for Change \/<\/em> Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 nouvelle<\/em>\u00a0 made it possible for the public voice to express criticism of the current state of affairs, giving the public voice a new potential to propagate shifts in discourse. An important goal of the NFB program was to maintain transparency and democracy. Knowledge, equipment, methods and production was controlled by the people. Through these utopian films, realities of Canadian multiculturalism and egalitarianism were portrayed and made real in 1967 to 1980.<\/p>\n Nguyen was interested in how this freshly spawned reality was expressed and recorded in the\u00a0program. She began an examination of the NFB film archives to re-present the film program in her\u00a0five works in the installation at Mercer Union.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n She discovered that the topics of Challenge for Change \/<\/em> Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 nouvelle<\/em>, relevant in 1967, are still unresolved and pertinent topics today and \u00a0prompts viewers to engage with the past in relationship to the present. Nguyen offers up her selection of films to instigate thinking about the continued romanticization of the imagined realities of true Canadian multiculturalism and egalitarianism. The art unpacks and questions imagination, inviting viewers to think differently about how the films articulate their positivistic ideas.<\/p>\n In 2009, artist Krista Bell Stewart viewed a scripted docu-drama film produced by CBC in 1967 featuring her mother, Seraphine Stewart. The film portrayed Seraphine Stewart as the first Aboriginal woman to become a public health nurse in British Columbia. Prior to this viewing, Krista Bell had no idea of the CBC docu-drama\u2019s existence or her mother\u2019s involvement. She was struck by the fragility of her then 27 year old mother\u2019s voice as she spoke the lines the director had given her so as to construct Seraphine\u2019s imagined voice.<\/p>\n In 2013, Stewart witnessed her mother\u2019s true and emotionally raw personal testimonial to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Vancouver, 2013. Seraphine\u2019s 72 year old voice was steady and resolute as she spoke of experiences, rituals, and traumas from her childhood and early years. The scripted documentary of 1967 holds nothing of Seraphine\u2019s true voice, yet the docu-drama was presented as a whole truth. Her personal testimonial presents Seraphine\u2019s true voice and personal history. At this crossroads, Stewart was inspired to begin her project, Seraphine: Her Own Story<\/em>\u00a0(2014).<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.artoronto.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/MercerUnionJHN02.jpg\" "\\"MercerUnionJHN02\\"")
<\/a>Challenge for Change\/Societe Nouvelle: Documents in Participatory Democracy, <\/em>a project by Jacqueline Hoang Nguyen, 2015. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid, courtesy of Mercer Union<\/p>\n<\/a>Challenge for Change\/Societe Nouvelle: Documents in Participatory Democracy, <\/em>a project by Jacqueline Hoang Nguyen, 2015. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid, courtesy of Mercer Union<\/p>\n<\/a>Challenge for Change\/Societe Nouvelle: Documents in Participatory Democracy, <\/em>a project by Jacqueline Hoang Nguyen, 2015. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid, courtesy of Mercer Union<\/p>\n<\/a>Krista Bell Stewart, Seraphine: Her Own Story<\/em>, 2014. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid, Courtesy of Mercer Union<\/p>\n