LAND BACK
The 6th edition of the Contemporary Native Art Biennal (BACA)

April 28 to June 26, 2022 

 

Levi Amidlak, Makusi Q. Angutigirk, Shuvigar Eelee, Elijassiapik, Tootaluk Etchuk, Maureen Gruben, Tutuyea Ikidluak, Nuveeya Ipellie, Mattuisi Iyaituk, Olajuk Kigutikardjuk, Ooloopie Killiktee, Jkai Lucassi, Barry Pottle, NIAP (Nancy Saunders), Camille Seaman, Lizzie Sheeg, Katherine Takpannie, Eva Aliktiluk Talooki, Therese P. Tugumiar

Curator : Michael Patten

 

The 6th edition of the Contemporary Native Art Biennial will focus on the Land Back movement, referring to the mobilization of people to reclaim the stewardship of traditional lands and ecosystems, protecting them for future generations.

This Aboriginal-led call to action has been gaining momentum in recent years as a result of an accumulation of events from both the past and the present: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women, the Canadian pipeline and rail protests of 2020, the 30th anniversary of the Oka crisis, the ongoing boil water advisories and community housing shortages, the discovery of the unmarked graves of Canadian residential schools, and the debunking of statues of John A. Macdonald statues across the country. The Land Back movement seeks governance and control of ancestral lands, a move towards decolonization. This growing demand for justice is being heard in all communities.

This edition at the Musée des beaux-arts de Sherbrooke will present works offering a northern perspective of the Land Back theme with around twenty artists who come from or work around the Great North.

Whether it is through memory and conservation of the territory, in the evocation of land, sea, heavenly territories and those that are crossed, northern artists have their own vision of the future, plagued by the threat to the Arctic environment caused by climate change.

Works in sculpture, photography and performance are proposed.

This 6th edition of the Biennale will have 7 pavilions: The Guild, the Art Mûr Gallery, the Stewart Hall Art Gallery, the McCord Museum, the Maison de la culture de Verdun – Quai 5160, the Maison des Jésuites de Sillery and the Musée des beaux-arts de Sherbrooke.

Photo credit : Jean-Michel Naud