March 23 – May 19, 2024
Opening reception: March 23, 2024 from 1 pm to 4:30 pm
Creation Stories: Stories of Place: rudi aker, Michael Belmore, Calvin Morberg, Nicolas Renaud, Heather Shillinglaw, Jason Sikoak, Krystle Silverfox
Curators: Lori Beavis, Emma Hassencahl-Perley, Jake Kimble, Teresa Vander Meer-Chassé
The Biennale d’art contemporain autochtone (BACA), 7th edition
DRAC – Art actuel Drummondville
Drummondville (QC)

For the opening at DRAC – Art actuel Drummondville, a free shuttle service will be offered. Seating is limited, we kindly request that you reserve your spot through Eventbrite.

The curators for this edition of the Contemporary Native Art Biennial (BACA) came together across Nations and territories to present works by more than 60 artists. For this 7th edition of BACA, each of the eight exhibition sites follows the overarching theme of Creation Stories. At DRAC the thematic is Stories of Place.

The seven artists in this exhibition are telling their own story, about their home place and the spaces of their ancestors. They are doing so in a variety of media using beads, sculptural objects, video, seal skin, carving and paint. Those stories of place are built through the observation, life experiences and an understanding of relationality and the natural environment. Story is a practice in Indigenous culture that is sustaining as it is the foundation of all human learning and teaching. Stories affirm experiences, ways of understanding, tell history from the people’s point of view, cultivate relationships and foster knowledge sharing.

The Biennale d’art contemporain autochtone (BACA) would like to thank the Canada Council for the Arts, the Quebec government (Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Fonds d’investissement pour le rayonnement de la Métropole, Secrétariat des affaires Autochtones), the Conseil des arts de Montréal, Tourisme Montréal, its presentation partners and its media partners.

Launched in 2012, the Contemporary Native Art Biennial (BACA) is a Montreal-based non-profit organization (registered in 2016) that promotes the work of Indigenous artists. The biennial is held every two years, in multiple venues, with each iteration focusing on a specific theme. The event is aimed at an ever-growing audience—Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike—and features both emerging and established artists. Our mission is to promote Indigenous art and to sensitize and educate the public on the cultural issues of the First Nations.