May 3 to July 22, 2018
The fourth edition of the Contemporary Native Art Biennial opened with four exhibitions and a rich program of events including performances, roundtables and screenings. Over the course of two months, Montreal and Sherbrooke presented the best of recent contemporary Indigenous art. The guest co-curators, Niki Little (Winnipeg/winnipi, MB) and Becca Taylor (Edmonton/amiskwaciwâskahikan, AB) had brought together forty-five artists from across America for this edition which was entirely dedicated to women. The exhibition níchiwamiskwém | nimidet | ma sœur | my sister explored multiple relationships that relate to the concept of sisterhood, whether these be intergenerational or through friendship, based on blood or solidarity, born of adversity, struggle and joy.
Spread between four venues, the 2018 Biennial was hosted by the Stewart Hall Art Gallery in Pointe-Claire, Art Mûr, La Guilde and the Musée des beaux-arts de Sherbrooke. The McCord Museum also hosted an evening dedicated to screening Indigenous films as well as a round table. In November, the Art Gallery of Mississauga held a selection of the artworks from níchiwamiskwém | nimidet | ma sœur | my sister.
The program of this fourth edition – rich in events – revealed the diverse perspectives that Indigenous female, queer and two-spirit artists hold. Their practices employ a variety of strategies from appropriation to transgression. They reinvent their identities, activating traditional methods of making and disrupting stereotypes. From sculpture to video, installation, engraving, textile, sound art and political posters, a wide range of mediums were used to evoke, share and illuminate the many narratives that shape the identity of Indigenous women.
Photos: Exhibition views, 2018. © Guy L'Heureux
