Local Indigenous artists featured at WAG

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/09/2017 (3144 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Billed as the WAG’s “largest contemporary Indigenous art exhibit yet,” Insurgence/ Resurgence includes 29 emerging and established Canadian Indigenous artists. 

You may have noticed the very large mural on the front of the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Normally the WAG hangs a mural to advertise the latest exhibit inside. Well, this mural is actually an art piece by Kenneth Lavallee entitled Creation Story. Manitoba Inuit president/ chairperson Fred Ford explained to me that “the piece was too large to hang inside the building so the WAG decided to hang it outside as part of the show.”

Anishinaabe, Dene, Cree, Mi’kmaw, Metis Inuit, Innu, Tahitian, Hunkpapa Lakota, Haudenosaunee, Waikinuxv, and Klahoose nations are all represented in the show.

I recently had the good fortune to take a tour of the artworks with curators Jaimie Isaac & Dr. Julie Nagam.  A few of the artists were also on hand to talk about their work. 

As I entered the foyer of the gallery, a Kent Monkman painting entitled Death of the Female caught my eye. The powerful piece is a surrealistic rendition of a woman who has just been attacked on a city street as a car races off. 

Next, I made my way up the stairs (which bore Cree text on the front of each step courtesy of Joi T. Arcand) to the third level, where I was greeted by two mannequins dressed in traditional Anishinaabe outfits. Artist Barry Ace cleverly and very subtly added capacitors and diodes along with the beads.

Casey Keycap’s piece Gone But Not Forgotten consisted of pieces of driftwood which he pulled from the Assiniboine River. He meticulously strung the pieces together below the skylight above. He spoke about how it not only represents missing and murdered women but how everyone and everything are all interconnected.

The tour had just begun. As well as paintings, sculptures, tattooing, and audio and visual works are also featured. There are even a couple of hands-on pieces you are encouraged to touch. Tsema Igharas’ Ejjnda-Push It consisted of a stretched Caribou hide on a wooden frame which could be played like a large drum (it was a favourite of the younger folk and, OK, I admit I had fun with it also).

Another unique piece I really enjoyed was Scott Benesiinaabandan’s Animikiikaa, an audio piece which included a poem recited in a very serene Cree voice accompanied by low frequency sounds… very moving.

The works were quite fascinating and educational (for example, the Algonquin word Kanata, which means village, is the origin of the name Canada). 

That’s the beauty of art — it not only inspires and teaches but also stimulates thought and I must say, the manner in which these talented artists’ works spoke to me left me in awe.

Insurgence/ Resurgence is up until the spring of 2018.

 Doug Kretchmer is a freelance writer, artist and community correspondent for The Times. Email him at quidamphotography@gmail.com 

Twitter: @DougKretchmer

Doug Kretchmer
North End community correspondent

Doug Kretchmer is a freelance writer, artist and community correspondent for The Times. Email him at dk.fpcr.west@gmail.com

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