Show engages audience

By Dan Hilborn
Published Oct. 2, 2004


Aboriginal art will be on display at the Burnaby Art Gallery when the exhibit First Nations Now has its opening reception at 1 p.m. this afternoon (Oct. 2).

The exhibit, which features works from both established First Nations artists and some of the most controversial young artists in the field, is the first of its kind in Burnaby, said gallery curator Darrin Martens.

"This is an opportunity for the citizens of Burnaby to see a different aspect of their community," said Martens, who began his work as the new curator at the gallery just three months ago.

Some of the works are controversial, Martens warned, but that is precisely what both he and the artists want.

"First and foremost, people are going to look at this work and it's going to engage them," he said. "It will make them think about how native people in this country have been treated by settlers and governments and the like."

The exhibit was co-curated by Peter Morin, a member of the Tahltan Nation from Telegraph Creek, B.C. and a coordinator with the Redwire Native Youth Centre, which publishes Redwire magazine written by and for First Nations youth in the Lower Mainland.

"After a while of working here, I started to realize that not all Native youth expression happens in a magazine format, so we decided to curate exhibits from our community," said Morin. "This exhibit at the Burnaby Art Gallery is exactly that."

The works on display in First Nations Now include a wide range of styles, but most of them include some an element of storytelling, Morin said.

For example, Tania Williard's untitled piece, which was reproduced into the official poster art for the exhibit, mixes traditional native images of a coyote, wolf and raven with Byzantine iconography. The resulting clash of styles is meant to challenge the viewer.

"It's a restructuring," Morin said of the piece. "The raven, coyote and wolf are very important culturally for First Nations groups and by placing them within that history - Byzantine artwork from the beginning of Western art - this addresses what iconography is and what that kind of spirituality is.

"Tania is creating a statement that is superpowerful and affirming."

Another stark image is Nibewan, The Spirit Beds, a painting on copper by Charlene Vickers, which shows empty beds left inside a closed residential school.

"When we go to bed at night in our homes, there is a sense of security and safety there. But it's also when we're at our most vulnerable because when you're sleeping, you don't know what's going on around you," Morin said. "These beds, these residential school beds are the same, but it's really apparent that they're not safe."

In addition to the new pieces, the exhibit will include works from Burnaby's permanent art collection by more established Native artists, including Xwa-lack-tun, Damian George, Lawerence Paul Yuxweluptun and Jane Ash Poitras.

Morin also said that many First Nations artists bring a sense of personal responsibility to their work.

"There are First Nations artists who don't start a painting or piece until they do the proper ceremonies or protocols," he said. "I can't speak for everybody, because I don't know everybody, but for many of them the act of creation is also about reconnecting to their ancestor's teachings."

That sense of connecting is a theme that Morin touched upon in the curatorial essay he submitted to the Burnaby Art Gallery that helped convince Martens to curate the show.

"My grandmother taught me that we are from the land. We make prayers to remember. We make dances to remember. We make songs to remember. We make pictures on the rocks to remember. We make pictures on our blankets to remember," Morin wrote. "And whether that remembering was for our ancestors, or dreaming times, or just a really, really good story, that remembering is intrinsic to our identity."

Martens said he looks forward to the public's reaction to the exhibit.

"There's all sorts of art out there," Martens said. "A lot of work can be passive, and that's great, but other works are startling, and this exhibit is somewhere in the middle of that."

First Nations Now is on display at the Burnaby Art Gallery until Oct. 31. Morin will also be on hand for In the BAG, a free interactive look at the exhibition that is suitable for the whole family that takes place on Sunday, Oct. 17 from 1 to 4 p.m.