Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art presents the Vancouver premiere of the retrospective exhibition GEORGE CLUTESI: ḥašaḥʔap / ʔaapḥii / ʕc̓ik / ḥaaʔaksuqƛ / ʔiiḥmisʔap from January 20, 2024 – January 19, 2025. The exhibition is an exploration of the life and legacy of Clutesi, whose actions have left an indelible mark on the preservation and celebration of the Nuu-chah-nulth community’s cultural traditions and customs. Featuring an extensive collection of Clutesi’s artworks, the exhibition further honours his legacy through striking displays of archival photographs and news clippings of his varied achievements, a documentary film about his long-lasting impact, and a curated selection of artworks from contemporary Nuu-chah-nulth artists and scholars, inspired by Clutesi’s activism and scholarship. The name of the exhibition, written in the Tseshaht language, honours Clutesi’s many celebrated traits: ḥašaḥʔap (keep, protective) / ʔaapḥii (generous) / ʕac̓ik (talented) / ḥaaʔaksuqƛ (strong willed) / ʔiiḥmisʔap (treasure). A series of ancillary events will support the exhibition, including an opening celebration on Saturday, January 20, 2024, an artist panel discussion, workshops, a curatorial tour, and a book club event. For admission information and a full list of events and registration details, visit: billreidgallery.ca

Feature image: George Clutesi, Mask of Plenty, 1944 – Courtesy of the Royal BC Museum

The Museum of Anthropology (MOA) at UBC reopens its doors to the public on June 13, 2024 at 5pm, following an 18-month closure that saw the successful completion of cutting-edge seismic upgrades to its Great Hall, coupled with updated interpretations and new displays of Northwest Coast Indigenous art. As part of the reopening, MOA will present the world premiere exhibition of To Be Seen, To Be Heard: First Nations in Public Spaces, 1900–1965, on display until March 30, 2025, in the Museum’s Audain Gallery. The immersive, multi-media exhibition explores the diverse ways that First Nations people in BC represented themselves as Indigenous in urban public spaces, during the period of potlatch prohibition and other forms of erasure in Canada. Looking back through rich archival material reveals the diverse ways that First Nations worked to be seen and heard striving to have their rights recognized—rights to their lands, their laws and their future. For admission details and exhibition information, visit: moa.ubc.ca

Feature image: 1929_Alberni Valley Museum [PN01873]

Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art presents the Canadian premiere of Formline : Calligraphy, The Creative Synergy of Bill Reid and Bob Reid from September 18, 2024 – January 26, 2025. Guest curated by Dr. Martine Reid, the exhibition explores the creative relationship between Haida artist Bill Reid and famed printmaker, calligrapher, and close friend Robert (Bob) Reid. Featuring two-and-three-dimensional works from both artists, the exhibition focuses on their collaborative works, as well as Bill Reid’s writing and other archival materials. Formline : Calligraphy reveals an exciting spirit of experimentation and playfulness, as well as a mutual commitment to excellence, highlighting the artists’ ongoing influence on artists today. Admission information and exhibition details at: billreidgallery.ca

Image: Bill Reid, Tschumos Brooch, silver, 1956. BRF 2002.1.2. Photo by Kenji Nagai, Courtesy of the Bill Reid Gallery, Vancouver, BC

The Vancouver Art Gallery is pleased to announce the much-anticipated presentation of Shelley Niro: 500 Year Itch, a monumental retrospective that surveys the 40-year career of celebrated Bay of Quinte Mohawk artist Shelley Niro. Organized by the Art Gallery of Hamilton (AGH) with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and with curatorial support from the National Gallery of Canada, this extraordinary exhibition showcases the full breadth of Niro’s prolific career from her unique perspective as a Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk) woman, bringing together works across painting, photography, sculpture, mixed media and film.

“We are honoured to be able to share this remarkable retrospective of Shelley Niro’s career with Vancouver,” says Anthony Kiendl, CEO & Executive Director of the Vancouver Art Gallery. “Niro has been fundamental in shaping the discourse around Indigenous representation, culture and ways of being.”

From the 1980s to the present, Niro has created art that reflects contemporary life and builds upon Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk) philosophies, deep understandings of history and a woman-centred worldview. Accessible, humorous and peppered with references to popular culture, this sharp-witted survey delves into the timeless cultural knowledge and generational histories of the artist’s Six Nations Kanyen’kehá:ka community to make art that provides purpose, hope and healing.

“The Art Gallery of Hamilton is thrilled to be sharing this important project,” says Shelley Falconer, President and CEO of the Art Gallery of Hamilton. “We are confident that Shelley Niro’s incredibly poignant works will resonate deeply with Vancouver audiences. The artist’s talk will be an excellent chance to hear from the artist herself, along with the audio guide located throughout the exhibition.”

Spanning almost four decades and over seventy works—from painting to beading—the exhibition is organized into themes that Niro often returns to: Matriarchy, Past is Present, Actors and Family Relations. Each provides vantage points from which she probes ideas central to her experience and identity as a Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk) woman. Niro’s persistent vision is to empower Indigenous women and girls, advocating for self-representation and sovereignty. Her highly empathetic approach moves viewers to understand the issues at hand through her visually impactful and politically powerful manner. She uses parody, feminism and spirituality to examine identity and, in turn, brings political power to the realm of the personal.

The exhibition title refers to the film The Seven Year Itch, released in 1955, the year after Niro was born. The film, starring Marilyn Monroe, portrays a marriage unravelling and refers to the concept of relationships waning after seven years. Niro explores this idea, suggesting that the relationship between colonizers and Indigenous peoples has always been uncomfortable, and there remains an itch. Niro created a self-portrait titled The Seven Year Itch in 1992, in which she imitates the famous scene of Marilyn Monroe standing over a subway grate with her dress blowing up.

“I remember seeing Shelley’s first solo show back in 1992 and slowly realizing, standing before Mohawks in Beehives, that I was witnessing a paradigm shift in contemporary Indigenous art,” says Richard Hill, Smith Jarislowsky Senior Curator of Canadian Art at the Vancouver Art Gallery. “It was fundamentally a change in how Indigenous identity was publicly presented. I had experienced a good deal of humour in Indigenous communities, but I hadn’t seen an artist treat identity as a space of riotous and inventive role-playing like Shelley did. It was liberating, opening a space for a rich, complex and often hilarious view of contemporary Indigenous experience. Any stereotype that got in her way was not so much overthrown as deftly pierced by laughter and left to deflate under the weight of its own absurdity.”

Shelley Niro: 500 Year Itch runs from September 27, 2024, until February 17, 2025. The exhibition is accompanied by a glittering publication designed by Barr Gilmore, available for purchase in the Gallery Store. This publication features contributions from esteemed authors and curators, including Lori Beavis, Sally Frater, Adrianna Greci Green, Bryce Kanbara, Madeline Lennon, Nancy Mithlo and Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie. 

The exhibition is organized and circulated by the Art Gallery of Hamilton with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and with curatorial support from the National Gallery of Canada. Curated by Melissa Bennett, AGH Senior Curator of Contemporary Art; Greg Hill, Independent Curator, formerly Audain Senior Curator, Indigenous Art, National Gallery of Canada; and David Penney, formerly Associate Director of Museum scholarship, Exhibitions, and Public Engagement at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. The Vancouver Art Gallery presentation is coordinated by Richard Hill, Smith Jarislowsky Senior Curator of Canadian Art.