#instillation

2017

Kevin McKenzie is a Cree/Metis artist whose work I was lucky enough to see in person. This was from the Smithsonian’s exhibition called Transformer: Native Art in Light and Sound. This piece is called, “Father, Son, Holy Ghost”.

Maria Hupfield | Distinctive, Easily Portable, and Often Stolen, (one of three). 2022

Maria Hupfield is a maker, a mover, a connector, an Anishinaabe-kwe of Wasauksing First Nation. Like the artist herself, Hupfield’s work is never static. Her performances, sculptures and installations reference different spans and scales of times. She values expansive exchange over isolation, and inclusion over hierarchy.

“The artworks in the exhibition (Protocol Break) were made or revisited in Toronto during our pandemic lockdown, a time of sadness and alienation for many of us. We were afraid, lonely, cut-off. Divided inside. Yearning for our roots and connections, the forest became a chair. Apartments became tents. Survival is passed down and remembered, thrown forward into the future.Magic is afoot! In a felt slipper. Call home, commune with your mom. Claim your voice from the soft body of an instrument. Ask the children to tell you what they’ve learned, write it down, cut it out and sew it on a rainbow.