Dis(place)ment: Explorations of Place, Past, Present and Future

Nov 7–23, 2020

A presentation of the Skwachàys Lodge Gallery, in partnership with the Carnegie Centre Association and the Eastside Culture Crawl Society

This exhibit, curated by Cheyenne (Natoyihkii) McGinnis, attempts to highlight the issue of displacement in Indigenous Communities while simultaneously inspiring individuals to create their own spaces through sharing culture, through self-reflection and through community-building.  

Skwachàys Lodge Gallery
31 W. Pender St.
10:00am – 5:00pm daily

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Exhibiting Artists:

Soloman Chiniquay 
Soloman is a Nakoda Artist who attempts to show the land, the people on it, the ways they use the land, and the artifacts that people leave on it through documentary photography

Charlene Johnny
Charlene Johnny is an artist from the Quw’utsun Tribes of Vancouver Island, BC. In 2012 and 2013 she won artist grants from YVR Art Foundation under mentorship of Alano Edzerza and Tsema Igharas working with graphic design, photography, glass and textiles. In 2018 she graduated NEC’s Jewellery Arts program under the tutelage of Jon Erikson and Sharifah Marsden. She studied silver and copper carving, became a muralist and apprenticed painting with Maynard Johnny. With her interdisciplinary approach to art, she will continue to work in various mediums to explore and express her ancestral artwork through a number of contemporary ways.

Hugh Kearney
My recent paintings are a blend of hard core modernism, landscape observations and First Nations attributes. To honor my Mother and Grand Mother, I acquired my certificate of Indian Status in 2017, registered with Kingsclear and I am part of the Maliseet Nation. I have been using First Nations elements in my work for the last several years. You can see it in the use of traditional colours of black, red and white and a bit of cross hatching.

Michelle Sound 
Michelle Sound is Cree and Métis and a member of Wapsewsipi Swan River First Nation in Northern Alberta. She was born and raised in Coast Salish territory. She completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Simon Fraser University, School for the Contemporary Arts, and her Master of Fine Arts from Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Michelle is currently the Indigenous Advisor at Douglas College. She has exhibited her artwork in Pushing Boundaries; Contemporary Indigenous Art; Talking Stick Festival: Kwèykw`áystway: Speaking With One Another and nākateyimisowin/Taking Care of Oneself, Ottawa-2018, Curated by Joi Arcand.

Chantelle Trainor-Matties
Chantelle Trainor-Matties, located in British Columbia, Canada is an artist with Nisga’a and Metis heritage who recently graduated with her Diploma in Visual Arts from the School of Creative Arts at the University of the Fraser Valley. She specializes in illustration, graphic design, and painting. Trainor-Matties works for herself and does freelance work for private and commercial clientele. Her work ranges from bold formline to charming cartoons to painterly realism and she has recently started to do more mural work. She participates in a variety of events such showcases, markets, trade shows and has had her work displayed in multiple galleries in British Columbia.

Charles Ya-ya Heit
My Ancestors and our lands have been foremost in my mind for most of my life. Some years I hunt and fish more than I make art. And so treaty making and politics are big in my life. I worked hard for my Gitxsan Chiefs and peoples for most of my life. Listening to and helping my Chiefs and Elders, feeding my peoples. Standing up for my peoples on the land and in lands claims courts, road blocking for months and years. All my histories and all my life comes out of me and into my art works. The humor of events in my life, the tragedies, accomplishments, lessons learned. All this makes me proud to be Native.

CURATOR:

Cheyenne (Natoyihkii) McGinnis is a Blackfoot/Cree woman that has family links to Kainai (Blood Tribe) and the Saddle Lake Cree Nation. Cheyenne comes from a long-line of story-tellers and artists, having gained inspiration from her uncles Rob First Charger and Francis First Charger to step into the world of history, culture and the arts. Cheyenne has been creating art that speaks to her experience as an Indigenous Woman walking in two-worlds for the better part of 10 years; her artwork attempts to uncover the intersections between Art, Business, & Culture. She is the founder of the Wellness and Art blog called Indigenous Busy-ness. Her main mediums are writing, acrylic paint, pyrography, photography, charcoal and pen. She also works with natural materials as much as she can. She has had artworks reproduced by USAY Calgary, Alberta Health Services, and the Blood Tribe. This is her first curated exhibition.