Faye HeavyShield Shelley Niro Eric Robertson Nations in Urban Landscapes
OBORO
Opening on Saturday, March 2, at 4 pm
Conference on Tuesday, March 5, at 8 pm
As part of L’art qui parle, in collaboration with the Women’s Art Resource Centre (Toronto)
This exhibition locates First Nations in an urban landscape to acknowledge the Aboriginal peoples who have been historically displaced from traditional lands, and to recognize the importance and legitimacy of the hybrid histories that arose out of their displacement. In addition, it metaphorically situates all Aboriginal people as Nations within an urban landscape. As a strategy, this explodes the officially authorized context for Aboriginal authority and expertise, as they are determined and contained by the conventions of authenticity, origins and traditions.
The works of Faye HeavyShield, Shelley Niro and Eric Robertson undermine current “romantic” notions of the authentic Indian as a steward of the land or the official keeper of culture and spirituality, revealing instead the hybrid nature of contemporary aboriginal life. The exhibition speaks to the ways in which these artists constantly negotiate the shifting boundaries of the Aboriginal communities.
In her conference, Marcia Crosby will present the works of Faye HeavyShield, Shelley Niro and Eric Robertson as reflecting stratified and discontinuous histories. historical displacement, breaks in familial lineage, the impossibility of transcendent traditions, and the blurred edges of their legally, socially and politically defined Aboriginal identities.
Marcia Crosby is a 3rd generation “urban Indian” who lives and works in Vancouver and Massett, Haida Gwaii as an art historian and curator, and as a negotiator for Aboriginal education in public institutions.
This exhibition and accompanying publication are organized and circulated by the Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver.
OBORO
Marcia Crosby est une “Indienne urbaine” de 3e génération. Historienne de l’art et conservatrice, elle vit et travaille à Vancouver et à Massett (Haida Gwaii). Elle oeuvre également à titre de négociatrice pour l’éducation autochtone dans les institutions publiques.