The latest exhibition at Nickle Galleries, Held. Together., gathers works of both settler and Indigenous artists. In the exhibition, Amanda McCavour, Glenna Cardinal, seth cardinal dodginghorse, Dwayne Martineau and Holly Anghel all engage with their own questions of relationship, place, and belonging in the land.
Plants serve as the foundational curatorial theme, with preserved plant specimens from the U of C Herbarium collection decorating the gallery walls.
“[Plants] hold the land together; they don’t die, they go dormant and their root networks continue to function,” says Nickle Galleries head curator Jenelle Pasiechnik in an interview with the Gauntlet. “They make it possible for other plant species to thrive and for other animal species, and they survive under difficult conditions.” said Pasiechnik.
The exhibition is situated in the ecological context of the Guts-ists'i, Wîchîspa Oyade, Moh'kinstsis that have long sustained the Indigenous peoples of Treaty 7 territories through their plants and water networks.
Toronto-based artist Amanda McCavour’s work, Ode to a Prairie, is an immersive textile installation made of silk and polyester fabrics embroidered with enlarged prints of goldenrod and milkweed, two native plants from the Curtis prairies of Wisconsin.
“It was first exhibited and made for the Chazen Museum of Art in Wisconsin, so Jenelle and I were thinking about what makes this piece that was based in Wisconsin to now come up in Calgary,” says McCavour.
The work features fabric pieces measuring five to 10 feet wide by 15 to 45 feet long, intricately draped from the gallery ceiling to create a hovering visual of prairie fields and offer visitors a stimulating perspective. For McCavour, enlarging these plant species serves as a form of noticing and slowing down.
“I wanted to shift the scale of a traditional prairie and how we normally encounter plants and emulate the feeling of being surrounded by nature, while also providing a surreal experience,” says McCavour, “And by being within it, you’re completing the piece and that connection by being within the work.”
Departing from plants, the exhibition extends to the themes of Indigenous connections and familial ties. Mother-and-son artist collective Glenna Cardinal and seth cardinal dodginghorse explore their family histories through their installations, uncovering stories of kinship and displacement from their traditional lands.
Cardinal’s installations feature familiar items passed down through generations of their family, including Pendleton blankets and images of their old family homestead. Cardinal’s work Didzinisa (Today) features a beaded moss bag that once held her grandmother as a baby, embellished with beadwork done by her sister, Tania Big Plume.
Meanwhile, dodginghorse, a Tsuut’ina, Amskapi Pikanii and Saddle Lake Cree multidisciplinary artist, attempts to recollect their once-family home in his work, “last night I had a dream I was home again”, which they were displaced from in 2014 to make way for the Southwest Calgary ring road project. He also incorporated buffalo hide as the piece’s canvas, a gift from his father who raises a buffalo herd.
“I think it's really important that people are able to see Indigenous peoples’ work that explores the truth, explores trauma, but also the beauty of being alive and the beauty of our history,” said dodginghorse.
Cardinal and dodginghorse’s works pay homage to her family’s history, rekindling stories of kinship, reliving Tsuut’ina histories and experiences of displacement, while tracing their lineage and identities.
The exhibition also features Try Not to Breathe, a multi-channel video installation by Edmonton-based artist Dwayne Martineau. The looping video prompts visitors to reflect on nature’s wonder and closely examine our interactions with our ecosystems.
Métis artist and U of C student Holly Anghel also contributed her beadwork pieces, Dad’s Garden and When it’s Summer time, to the window gallery. Through Anghel’s father’s garden, she celebrates the seemingly minute but significant vessels of life within an urban space, such as a yard, that bears witness to family moments and intimacies.
Held. Together. invites visitors to step into the conversations of land, family, and community and to slow down and acknowledge the living networks we depend on to survive.
“There are so many preexisting relations existing on these territories that go beyond human relationships,” said Pasiechnik, “And those relationships are so important to the survival of the human community, and I hope we all just acknowledge the contributions of our more than human brethren and how important they are to us and how we depend on them.”
The exhibit runs from Sep. 18 to Dec. 12, with an upcoming exhibit tour on October 14.
(At of the time of publication, Glenna Cardinal and Seth cardinal dodginghorse have both withdrawn their work from Held. Together.)
