Kwaweyih
Aïcha Bastien N’Diaye, Craig Commanda and Marie-Andrée Gill
-From January 12th to February 11th 2024
Opening: January 12th at 17h
Marie-Andrée Gill, Uapikunashteu, 2023, Courtesy of the artist.![]()
![]()
![]()
Craig Commanda, Pakigan, 2023-2024, Courtesy of the artist.
At the crossroads of many paths, a meeting of medias and disciplines, but above all of three spirits, three nations. Kwaweyih presents works by Aïcha Bastien-N’Diaye (Wendat), Craig Commanda (Anishinaabe) and Marie-Andrée Gill (Ilnu).
Snow, fire, braids, moccasins.
A baggage of complex cultures, plural symbolism.
While Aïcha Bastien N’Diaye’s artistic work is primarily rooted in movement, here she uses performance and video. The remnants of her actions find their place in the exhibition, testifying to a certain benevolent violence, just like her gestures and impulses.
How can we portray the violence of colonized bodies, and the legacy it represents? How can we rally around the idea that “fire is us.”
Craig Commanda explores the transmission of values.
Respect for the land, for what it has to offer.
At the heart of a moose hide tanning frame, a multitude of fabrics and leathers interlock to form a new “skin”. If the ancestors were careful not to lose any of the
fruits of their hunt, here the artist recycles his leftover fabrics in the same spirit.
In an age of fast fashion, he shows that we have much to learn from them to return to a “sustainable lifestyle”.
For Marie-Andrée Gill, it’s a journey.
That of a fictional Céline who leaves the big city for the forest, rather than the other way around.
It’s about the traditional motifs of ilnu moccasins being combined with surrealist imagery.
Here, her usual poetry is expressed through collage.
With excerpts from Céline Dion’s biography, she creates a new narrative. With images from old magazines and her own motifs, she embodies her tradition in movement and updating.
With an aesthetic that borrows from kitsch and popular references, she affirms a culture that, far from being frozen in the past, proclaims that it is very much alive. Together, these three artists anchor their respective cultures in their experience of the world. They appropriate its symbols, values and motifs to better express its complexity and vitality.
Credit: Vincent Drouin
Part of the Wendat Nation, Aïcha Bastien N'Diaye is a multidisciplinary artist introduced to movement through traditional Guinean dance, while growing up in Wendake and taking part in multiple Pow Wow as a Fancy Shawl dancer. Creating a seamless blend of two strong cultures, she approaches the physicality and expressiveness of movement through dance and performance. Her work has been presented at l'OEil de Poisson, the Huron-Wendat Museum and in a Slow Factory installation at MoMA PS1.
Craig Commanda is a multidisciplinary Anishinaabe artist from Kitigan Zibi. His work spans film, music, beadwork, poetry, photography, traditional crafts, hide tanning and digital media. His work has been presented at Imaginative, the Waiora Māori Film Festival, SAW Gallery, the Ottawa Art Gallery, the Montreal Botanical Garden and the Biennale Révélations in Paris.
Marie-Andrée Gill is an author, poet, teacher and podcast host from the Pekuakamiulnuatsh Nation. Her writing explores intimacy, love, humor and healing. Her work draws on everyday life and pop culture to make the transition to a decolonial world. Following a residency at Le Lobe, she presented her work Céline Kushpu in Eshi Uapatakau Ishkueuatsh Tshitassinu / Regards de femmes sur le territoire at the Galerie de l'UQAM.
