The Telidon Art Project has recovered about 15,000 long-lost Telidon graphics created by more than 60 emerging and established Canadian artists of the early 80s. It is the world's largest collection of videotex art. For those unfamiliar with these terms, "videotex" is what pre-web, dialup services were called. Telidon was the Canadian version of videotex that became an international telecommunication standard.

All of the art was located and recovered from nearly 40 year old magnetic oxide media with 99% recovery rate, which is a new benchmark. This included over 100 8 inch floppy discs, 35+ 5.25 inch floppy disks, 33 videotapes and two cassette tapes found in art organization archives such as Artexte, Trinity Square Video, InterAccess (TCV), the University of Victoria and the personal collections of artists.

We were intrigued to find several examples of Indigenous style graphics. When the government spent $68 million testing Telidon in every conceivable medium and demographic, be it urban/rural, public/private, as well as non profit and profit enterprises and French/English. "Indigenous" was not included.

The Indigenous style images we found are so unlike mainstream, non-indigenous computer graphics, they are in a league of their own. E.g., there is no text in any of the images, unless you include Tony Hunt Sr.'s tablet drawn signature. And, there are no rectangles and few straight lines.

We have authenticated one of these computer graphics, a 1983 sketch of a Raven created by west coast Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw artist Tony Hunt Sr. We are repartriating his historic image to the Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw Nation, in a ceremony in Port Hardy though his brother Stanley Hunt.

Artist #1, 1983, "Raven" by Tony Hunt Sr.

When you watch this private Youtube video, you might say something that no one ever said about Telidon:
"Can I see that in slow motion?"
Try it, it is like looking over the shoulder of an artist as he draws.

This computer graphic sat unseen for 38 years on an 8” floppy disk in the estate of Glenn Howarth, a visual artist who created some of Canada's finest Telidon art. The disk was with Glenn at the 1983 Sao Paulo Biennale, when he was demonstrating the Norpak Telidon Information Provider System, aka Norpak IPS, in the Candian booth. Tony Hunt Sr. was there representing Indigenous Canadian artists. It appears Mr. Hunt sat down to try out the Norpak IPS. He used the graphics tablet pen with an eye on the display screen in front of him while Glenn handled the keyboard and system monitor, e.g. to change colours or shapes. There is no way to know how long it took, but it is obvious that the artist has drawn thousands of ravens. In fact, according to Mr. Hunt's sister, Leslie Dickie, “when you said he did a computer graphic I was like, let me guess. . . a raven?”

Tony Hunt's signature adds authenticity and is unique in the thousands images we have found. No other Telidon artist signed their work. Is it worth mentioning that in all the indigenous images we've located, Hunt's signature is the only "text" in any of it.

Artist #2, 1979/80 Moon Mask, artist unknown

My first encounter with this image was on the cover of the Sept 1980 issue of Electronics Today International magazine.
This is a scan and restoration of the partial image image on the cover. We have not located the original digital file.

On the left is a 1973 Kwagiulth Moon Mask carved by Calvin Hunt, cousin of Tony Hunt Sr.

On the right is the 1980 Telidon Moon Mask created by "a student at OCA.

The Telidon image doesn't try to copy the carving so much as Kwagiulth visual language.

The second time I encountered the image was while searching the Telidon archives at Ingenium in Ottawa. It was mounted on a 18 by 18 inch piece of flat wood, used as a display at international trade shows promoting Telidon as an international standard.

The third encounter was also in the Ingenium Telidon archives. It was a logo for a private company. I tracked down the owner to ask about the image. He had no idea where it came from.

The fourth encounter was a memory of Murray McKerecher who managed the Bell demo centre on Hazelton Lanes from 1982 until it closed in 1983. As Murray put it, "That face greeted me every morning when I opened the door". It was reproduced as floor to ceiling wallpaper in the lobby of the demo centre, where it was likely created, "by a student at OCA".

In summary, unlike the other Indigenous style graphics we found which sat unseen for decades, this one was reproduced countless times in print, promos, logos, etc., all without attribution. The similarity between the Telidon Moon Mask and those carved by Tony Hunt Sr.'s nephew is the closest we've come to identifying this artist. Unfortunately, Calvin Hunt doesn't didn't create the Telidon Moon Mask and doesn't recall any west coast Indigenous artists attending OCA in 1980. We hope to interview him about the striking similarities.

Artist #3, Woodland images, unknown artist

While looking for lost Telidon art in the Toronto Community Videotex archives, we came across four bad colour photocopies of photographs of a screen displaying Woodland Style images. These were created at Trinity Square Video, likely in 1982, during the Telidon @ TSV project. The images were intriguing to say the least. There was no info on the photocopies. If the digital files existed, we did not know the artist's name, or filenames. bringing to mind needles in a haystack.

Over time about a dozen Woodland style images turned up on two 8" floppies. They were all the same images, just different colour mixes. These four appear to be a set, if only because the artist took the time to photograph and photocopy photographs of these four images, .

You don't need to be an indigenous art expert to recognize the striking similarities between these Telidon images and Norval Morriseau's "Man Changing Into Thunderbird".

The concordance is so obvious between the images, one wonders if the Telidon artist produced 6 graphics. There were other images, variations in colours using the same images. The artist didn't photograph those, only these four. Odds are, the four images we recovered were a complete set.

ROOTS
aka
AWAKENING

CONFLICT
aka
EMERGENCE

CRISIS
aka
STUGGLE

TRANSFORMATION

Legends & Grandparents: They speak of the sacred knowledge he received from his grandfather, Moses Nanakonagos, a shaman who taught him that the earth is our mother.

Residential Schools & Trauma: Depict "English" attempts to erase his identity. Visually narrates the complex & often destructive relationship between Indigenous people and European settlers.

Addiction & Illness):
A visual record of his battles with alcoholism and homelessness. They are pleas for healing and spiritual protection.

Copper Thunderbird: Translates to: "I am no longer just a man; through my art and my suffering, I have transformed into a spiritual protector".

Each of the Woodland animations is about 20 seconds long.

Watching them in slow motion highlights their complexity. Hundreds of "graphic elements", i.e. Woodland icons, appear, one after the other.

You can see how the artist, using a graphics tablet, layered the "icons". The colour combinations are outstanding. Relative to typical Telidon graphics, these are overloaded with graphic elements, aka "Picture Description Instructions".

Anyone who understands the Woodland visual language can create a transformation story of their own. The structure is universal: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution, Or, in this case, roots, conflict, crisis and transformation. It appears that our Telidon artist is retelling Norval's transformation story.

Last, but not least, the Telidon Woodland animations add a new dimension to the Woodland images: the time it takes for hundreds of graphic elements to appear, in the right order. Only someone fluent in the visual Woodland langauge would know if there is a narrative order in the appearance of each elements.

Here are some opinions on the Woodland style computer screenshots, without seeing the animations:

"the renderings seem to have elements that reflect adaptation and reinterpretation of the images rather than simple reproduction” - an art expert at AGO.
Norval Morrisseau's book and the installation of Man Changing Into Thunderbird" at the AGO caused a sensation in the early 80s Queen St. W. art community, where Trinity Square Video was located. Odds are a very talented, but not Indigenous, student sat down with the book to copy the images - a protege of Norval.
"Norval told me stories of using a computer in the early 80s that let him draw with a pen with a wire coming out of it while looking at the screen in front of him - another protege of Norval.
“Whether the pieces were done by Norval or inspired by Morrisseau’s visual language, I do think they are noteworthy.” - recognized Indigenous art expert.
“I’m not impressed with this work and who ever did the work doesn’t understand the cosmology and that is the essence of the Ojibway creation story.” - another protege of Norval.