Gallery 1C03 at the University of Winnipeg will share several of the Indigenous and Inuit art pieces in its permanent collection in a uniquely curated exhibit.
Rooted in Relations is the culmination of the work in the Indigenous Theory and Curatorial Practices class offered by the university. Students from a wide variety of backgrounds came together to select the pieces that will be on display over the next several weeks.
“They did an amazing job,” smiles Cathy Mattes, assistant professor in art history who teaches the course. “They were extremely thoughtful in how they co-curated the exhibition, and they chose amazing artwork from the collection.”
Listen to Cathy Mattes' conversation with Nolan Kehler on Morning Light here:
Mattes, who is Michif from southwestern Manitoba, notes the distinctions that set apart Indigenous curatorial practices from those informed by a typical, Eurocentric model. “The foundation certainly is our knowledge systems, our lived experiences,” she says, “but also some of the challenges that the Western art world has presented to us over the years. So, I think the distinction is that the challenges, the lived experience, the knowledges that we get to learn as we ourselves move through life.”
The decolonial nature of this work is something that the students in Mattes’ class came to naturally. The students frequently communicated with each other to develop consensus on which pieces should be included in Rooted in Relations and how they would be displayed. Mattes facilitated the trust that was forged between the students through several activities and assignments, including something she calls a “decolonial show and tell”.
“I asked them to bring a part of themselves into the class that tied to the course content and some of the readings that they had. What it looked like, what I witnessed was that exercise made them come together, know a little bit more about one another, and were willing to work together.”
Amidst the different pieces that the students worked together to display, the common thread amidst them is a relationship with the land. “Students noted in conversations and their readings and looking that kinship meant relationship with the land, with animals, with sky worlds. And so, it’s a very holistic understanding of relationship, so the artwork as the artists’ understanding of kinship, not just with human relations, but other relations as well.”
Rooted in Relations is on display at Gallery 1C03 until August 1. More information can be found at the gallery’s website.