These paintings were part of my residency for Sakewewak’s InRez 2016: The next 150 project.
The question, that coincided with Canada’s 150th birthday, was “where will First Nations people be 150 years from now?”
Using inspiration from some of my favorite things, such as old movies, and retro-futurism, I sort of took the question for face value, and decided to have a little fun with it. Referencing old, stereotypical poses and portraiture of paintings and depictions of Indigenous people from the past, and re-contextualizing them for the future, in a sort of tongue in cheek way. I also tried to answer questions I had such as, when the colonized become the colonizers, what would change? Do we repeat history, or use it to influence change? Will we carry forward our problems, or propel past them?
I think for most people, myself included, the piece, “Left Behind” stands out as the most successful at asking these questions. A lone, female astronaut floats in space, disconnected from her ship that can be seen (in an adjoining set of paintings) flying away from her.
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