Description
Adrian Sutherland is the vocalist and guitarist for Midnight Shine, a Canadian roots-rock band. They have released three studio albums and three music videos and have been actively touring across Canada since 2016. A father of four, grandfather of four, and a hard-working husband, Adrian is proud of who he is and where he comes from. He speaks the Cree language, is a respected cultural leader and practices traditional ways of the land. Among his numerous roles in the community, he is an Artist Ambassador for the Downie Wenjack Fund and is a Master Corporal with Attawapiskat’s Canadian Ranger Patrol where he leads young people on wilderness initiatives.
Brilliantly caustic and raw, The Work of Our Hands is an incredibly moving and honest look at the life of Adrian Sutherland, a fierce First Nations musician who advocates for a home only some can see.
They say that if you’re holding a hammer, everything looks like a nail. You’re going to see the world the way it presents itself to you. The world looks different to people who interact with it differently.
In the same way, when people see Sutherland's small hometown, they don’t understand why he lives there. They see only poverty and despair. And it’s true—there’s the decaying water system, the sagging, mold-filled houses with generations packed into each one. The substance abuse and the suicides.
And yet, there is also the unconquerable resilience. The quiet dignity that only those who choose their own way of life can know. The joy that comes from nurturing those they love. And the courage of those who will not be turned aside from making things right. That’s why Adrian Sutherland, an award-winning musician and lead vocalist and guitarist of the musicial group Midnight Shine, chooses to stay in Attawapiskat—despite his flourishing career and every opportunity to leave.
The Work of Our Hands incisively reveals what others cannot see. By exploring his world through the concrete experience of his hands, as they hold a guitar, a hammer, a rifle, or a cannister used to carry water to his family home, and the materials from which the sweat lodge is constructed, Sutherland not only paints a portrait of a world few of us have ever seen, he also lays out the way the world itself can teach us right and wrong as clearly as we can detect a musical note that is off-key.
Everyday life in Attawapiskat means choosing a difficult path, learning from the contours and hard edges of the world, and striving to do what is right. That is freedom. How many of us can say we are free?