Contemporary Native Art Biennial (BACA) – 4th edition
níchiwamiskwém | nimidet | ma soeur | my sister
Guest curators: Niki Little and Becca Taylor
The fourth edition of the Contemporary Native Art Biennial opens shortly with four exhibitions and a rich program of events that includes performances, roundtables and screenings. Over two months, Montreal and Sherbrooke will present the best of recent contemporary Indigenous art. The guest co-curators, Niki Little (Winnipeg/winnipi, MB) and Becca Taylor (Edmonton/amiskwaciwâskahikan, AB) have brought together forty-five artists from across America for this edition entirely dedicated to women. The exhibition níchiwamiskwém | nimidet | ma sœur | my sister will explore 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 Biennial will be hosted by the Stewart Hall Art Gallery in Pointe-Claire, Art Mûr, La Guilde and the Sherbrooke Museum of Fine Arts. The McCord Museum will host an evening dedicated to screening Indigenous films as well as a round table.
The program of this fourth edition – rich in events – will reveal 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 and sound art and political postering, a wide range of mediums will be used to evoke, share and illuminate the many narratives that shape the identity of Indigenous women.
Translation in Mohawk by Hilda Nicholas
Tho ‘onthónhnhete ki we’néhston sha’teionkwatská:hon ne iakwataté:ken, ne ne konnón:kwe iotiióte ne kanakerahserá:kon nia’té:kon kontí:rek’s aonterihwahtén:ti. Ne ia’tiakwanonhtónnionhwe oh nikakaró:ten’s kontihtharáhkwahkwe’ tsi nón:we tekontatkenhskwe’. Ne iakhiièn:tere’s ne ioti’shatstenhserowá:nen’s konnón:kwe skátne teionkwatónton, ioti’nikonhrowá:nen’s. Tsi ionkwatenro’serón:ni tionkwá:wis ne ion’wé:sen tsi na’teiakwaterónnion, tánon ‘onkwanakerahserakkónhson ne iakwataté:ken ionkwahiahrahstén:ni tsi na’teionterónnion tsi teionkwaienawá:kon tánon tsi iakwatia’taró:rok’s. Tho ki ní:ioht tsi iakwatkáhthos tsi teionkwaiewnawá:kon ne 40 nihá:ti ratiráhstha, akwe tekonttihánion tsi nihotiio’tenhseró:ten’s.
Tewatáteken, sha’teionkwá:wen tsi na’tetewáteron ne í:I tánon ní:se’ tionkwehtáhkwen skátne tewaià:tare ne onkwanakerahserakónhson ne ní:i tánon í:se’.
Tiataté:ken
Iakwawennakwé:kon tsi wa’tkwanonhwerá:ton sewakwé:konne sewaráhstha ne sewaio’ténhsera, sewawenna’shón:’a,tánon sewanonhtonnióhtshera wahskwaié:nawa’se tsi ní:ioht tsi eniakwé:nenste’ tánon tsi ‘onthiá:ton, sewakwé:kon wa’kwaièn:tere’ne kén:thon sewaià:tare.