Sovereign Intimacies at Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art September 26 – December 20, 2020
Thank you to @canartca for including Sovereign Intimacies on their list of art to see this fall!
Check out the entire list at canadianart.ca/features/art-to-see-this-fall/ 🧡
The video work Wrapped in the Cloud, by Jaad Kuujus (Meghann O’Brien) was produced in collaboration with Conrad Sly, Hannah Turner, Reese Muntean, and Kate Hennessy.
“Wrapped in the Cloud © by Jaad Kuujus (Meghann O’Brien) produced in collaboration with Conrad Sly, Hannah Turner, Reese Muntean, and Kate Hennessy, is an otherworldly video that reveals the layers that connect community and ancestral knowledge, representing the often inexpressible depths of love and culture. Wrapped in the Cloud is a digital representation of a weaving called Sky Blanket by Jaad Kuujus (Meghann O’Brien), that reveals what our eyes cannot see when looking at the weaving. We are let into a sacred realm that shows us how every ancestor holds space in the constellations created through the process of weaving threads together. The warp and weft change the structure of the threads, making them stronger once woven together. Through collaboration with other artists, and community, Wrapped in the Cloud is stronger for the shared knowledge, care, and presence of each person and spirit that has had impact on the making of the weaving and the video. It all comes together through Jaad Kuujus (Meghann O’Brien) who brings this work into existence.”
– Nasrin Himada and Jennifer Smith, Curators, Sovereign Intimacies, Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, Winnipeg (Sept. 2020).’
Sovereign Intimacies is a group exhibition co-curated by Nasrin Himada and Jennifer Smith, in partnership with Gallery 1C03, with support from Video Pool Media Arts Centre. The exhibition takes place at Plug In ICA from September 26 – December 20, 2020, with extensive programming that consists of online talks, workshops, screenings, and poetry readings. Sovereign Intimacies explores themes of cultural and community exchange between Indigenous artists and artists from the diaspora, more specifically artists who are First Nations, Inuit and Métis collaborating with artists living in what is currently called Canada who came to this land and are not part of the settler/colonial history of the country. The group show consists of pairings of artists, as well as individuals, whose work is based on process and relationship building, and for those whose work is invested in active conceptualization around topics of friendship and intimacy, who are working to build collective vision of a sovereign future.
The curatorial intention is to present not only work in a gallery space, but to focus on an extensive online public program featuring readings, talks, workshops, screenings, and other local community engagements and encounters. The aim is to construct a space where these conversations highlight collaboration and exchange of knowledge. The community is centered, knowing that this exhibition cannot respond to and encompass all the needs of future discussions, but sets the goals for the community to continue these discussions to amplify our collective voice.
Featuring the work of Hassaan Ashraf, Annie Beach, Ayumi Goto, iris yirei hu, melannie monoceros, Peter Morin, Mariana Muñoz Gomez, Wanda Nanibush, M. NourbeSe Philip, Meghann O’Brien, Marie-Anne Redhead, Cheyenne Thomas, and David Thomas.
Image: Wrapped in the Cloud © Jaad Kuujus (Meghann O’Brien), 2018. Produced in collaboration with Conrad Sly, Hannah Turner, Reese Muntean, and Kate Hennessy. Video, 4 mins. Quote: Nasrin Himada, from Sovereign Intimacies Exhibition Essay.
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#sovereignintimacies #canadianart #wrappedinthecloud