News release: 122 Main Street East, North Bay: The White Water Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of contemporary art by Anishnaabeg artists Bev Koski and Christian Chapman. “Recast” has been curated by Lisa Myers and organized by Gallery 44 in Toronto. The opening reception for the show here in North Bay is on Friday March 18th at 7pm – as part of the Gallery Hop – and the show will run until Saturday April 23rd. Everyone is welcome at this free public exhibition!
Using meticulous three-dimensional beading, Koski weaves armour over small tourist kitsch figurines of “Indians”, except for the eyes. According to Koski, the beaded cover makes these stereotypical figures “easier to look at.” At the same time, as Myers describes, “the exposed eyes reveal an emotional urgency.” Human-scale photographs of these “recast” figures will be featured in the exhibition, highlighting the tension between caricatures of “Indian-ness” and living Indigenous cultural practices.
Community members will have a number of opportunities to meet, share stories with, and bead with Anishnabekwe artist Bev Koski (OCAD graduate and York BFA) – thanks to a partnership with Enji Giigdoyang. Koski will be giving an artist talk entitled “The Social Life of Beads” on Friday March 18th at 11:30am at the Nipissing University small cafeteria (A246). She will also be facilitating a series of beading workshops: Wednesday March 16th 10:30am-1:30pm and Thursday March 17th from 1-4pm at the Enji Giigdoyang Student Lounge (F215); and Friday March 18th from 5-8pm at White Water Gallery. Koski will also be in attendance at the exhibition opening from 7-9pm.
Chapman is an Anishnaabeg painter and printmaker that “recasts the narrative of a Woodland artist in video format,” according to Myers. The use of storytelling is an important theme within his art, and has been an important part of his entire life. Transforming his own Fort William art studio into a film set depicting a remote cabin studio, Chapman worked with cinematorgrapher Greg Jacobsen to shoot the everyday life of a fictious Woodland painter – played by Vov Abraxas (Brian Aysanabee) – on grainy black & white Super 8 film.
Chapman then invited four artists to edit their own videos of the artist’s everyday life: Sámi filmmaker Marja Bål Nango from Norway; Pawnee/Delaware/ Kiowa artist Nathan Young from Oklahoma; Cree artist Sébastian Aubin's and Algonquin Anishinabeg artist Caroline Monnet's of the Montreal-based media collective AM. The results of their work are four video interpretations that will be screened on a loop in the gallery, as part of Chapman’s Edmazinbiiget (2008-2014).
Both of these artists use alternative perspectives to provoke audiences to reflect on ‘mainstream’ depictions of Indigenous people and cultures. Through large-scale photography and video, viewers are encouraged to “Recast” the roles of Indigenous figures. How might you look at these tourist kitsch items differently? What stories about Indigenous artists might you tell?
Audience members will also be able to take home a catalogue of this exhibition, thanks to the thoughtful curatorial work of Lisa Myers – from Beausoleil First Nation and the Georgian Bay region, and currently teaching at the Ontario College of Art and Design – and the generosity of Gallery 44 – Centre for Contemporary Photography in Toronto.
White Water Gallery staff and friends look forward to ‘exploring’ this exhibition with you soon. The Main Street East gallery is open regularly Tuesday to Saturday from noon-4:30pm.
