Thursday, Ocotber 1st, 6:00 - 8:00pm. Join acclaimed artist, curator, and writer Gerald McMaster for a special lecture exploring the role of art in truth, reconciliation, and the representation of Indigenous histories and contemporary experiences.
Following Gerald McMaster’s lecture, the conversation will continue with a panel discussion led by Emma Hassencahl-Perley, who will be joined by artists Jake Kimble and Alan Syliboy. The panel will explore the diverse ways Indigenous artists use their practices to engage with history, identity, cultural knowledge, and reconciliation.
Together, the lecture and panel will consider the power of art to challenge dominant narratives, preserve and share Indigenous perspectives, and create space for dialogue and understanding.
This talk is free and open to the public and will take place in the Harrison McCain Pavilion.
Gerald McMaster: An accomplished artist, author, curator and educator, Gerald McMaster has had a profound impact on how contemporary Indigenous art is understood in Canada. Over a career spanning five decades, he has championed Indigenousled educational initiatives and challenged conventional narratives, reshaping the ways art history is taught, curated and interpreted. His work also extends globally, including major contributions at La Biennale di Venezia (Venice Biennale), the Biennale of Sydney and through international projects such as Arctic/Amazon. Drawing from McMaster’s personal archives – generously gifted to the National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives – as well as his personal collection, this exhibition highlights key moments in his career, beginning with his formative years in Saskatchewan.
Jake Kimble: Jake Kimble is a multidisciplinary Chipewyan (Dënesųłıné) artist and curator from Treaty 8 territory in the Northwest Territories whose practice revolves around acts of self-care, self-repair, and gender-based ideological refusal. Kimble belongs to the Deninu K’ue First Nation and currently lives, works, and shoots on the stolen territory of xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish) and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Holding both a degree in Acting from Vancouver Film School as well as a BFA in Photography from Emily Carr University of Art + Design Kimble imbues his work with a sense of theatricality and levity, which are core principles in their practice. Through a clever subversion of the everyday aesthetics Kimble also plays with language and ambiguity – something that comes natural with them being a two-spirited artist. Using a funny bone as a tool, Kimble excavates themes of existentialism, narcissism, and the strange, offering an invitation to the audience to examine the absurdities that exist within the everyday so that they too may exhale, unclench, and even chuckle in the spaces where laughter is often lost.
Alan Syliboy: Alan Syliboy grew up believing that native art was generic. “As a youth, I found painting difficult and painful, because I was unsure of my identity.” But his confidence grew in 1972 when he studied privately with Shirley Bear. He then attended the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, where 25 years later, he was invited to sit on the Board of Governors. Syliboy looked to the indigenous Mi’kmaq petroglyph tradition for inspiration and developed his own artistic vocabulary out of those forms. His popularization of these symbolic icons has conferred on them a mainstream legitimacy that restores community pride in its Mi’kmaq heritage. Alan still lives and works in Millbrook, NS, where he was born and raised. He creates his art in his studio in Truro, NS.
Image: Kent Monkman (Fisher River Cree Nation), The Scream, 2017. Acrylic paint on canvas; 84 x 132 in. Denver Art Museum: Native Arts acquisition funds, purchased with funds from Loren G. Lipson, M.D, 2017.93. © Kent Monkman
