The
University
of
Waterloo
Art
Gallery
(UWAG)
welcomes
everyone
to
Sovereign
Acts curated
by
Wanda
Nanibush with
the
works
of
artists
Rebecca
Belmore,
Lori
Blondeau,
Dayna
Danger,
James
Luna,
Shelley
Niro,
Adrian
Stimson,
and
Jeff
Thomas. Please
join
us
for
this
thoughtful
and
timely
exhibition.
The
history
of
Indigenous
Peoples
performing
cultural
dances
and
practices
for
international
and
colonial
audiences
is
an
important
part
of
Indigenous
art
generally,
and
performance
art
specifically.
The
Indigenous
performers
known
as
‘Indians’
faced
the
conundrum
of
maintaining
traditional
cultural
practices
by
performing
them
on
stage
while
also
having
that
performance
fulfill
the
desires
of
a
colonial
imaginary.
In Sovereign Acts, the artists contend with the legacy of colonial representations. Drawing on the depiction of the imaginary Indian–the ahistorical, pre-contact 'primitivism' in popular and mass culture–they recover and construct new ways of performing the complexity of Indigenous cultures for a contemporary art audience. Their work returns to the multi-leveled history of ‘Performing Indian’ to recuperate the erased and objectified performer as an ancestor, an artist, and an Indigenous subject.
Organized and circulated by the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, with the support of the Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery.
Opening
Reception:
Thursday
January
11,
5:00–8:00
pm
Curator’s
Talk:
Wednesday
February
7,
12:00
pm
in
ECH
1219
Gallery hours: Tuesday to Saturday 12:00-5:00 pm or by appointment