The exhibition Atautchikun | wâhkôtamowin combines works from Remai Modern’s collection with commissions and other works by contemporary artists, some of whom have connections to the collection artists or to the land, both the North and Treaty 6 Territory.
“These artists are tied together by how they expand expectations of Indigenous art, and their ability to defy stereotypes and redefine what Indigenous art can be with full Indigenous autonomy.”
– Kablusiak and Missy LeBlanc, guest curators
Amanda Strong is a Michif filmmaker, media artist and stop-motion director based in Vancouver, British Columbia, on unceded Coast Salish territories. Her works contribute to the resurgence of Métis visual culture by literally handcrafting imaginative worlds that emphasize a continuum between past, present and future. Flood tells the story of Thunder, an Indigenous youth who resists the deluge of colonial rule with the help of Spider Woman.
The curators wanted to give the invited artists the opportunity to create works that expand or refuse expectations of Indigenous art. Strong’s film, Flood (2017), seeks new and different visual representations of Métis culture.
Atautchikun | wâhkôtamowin features both the film itself and one of the stop-motion sets used to create Flood.
Another work by Strong, How to Steal a Canoe, is also on view at Remai Modern in the exhibition Canoe. The work was first shown at the museum in 2018 alongside another of Strong’s films Biidaaban. Both films are part of Remai Modern’s collection.
Additional reading/viewing:
- CBC Arts: ‘Live action could never have created these worlds’: Amanda Strong on her latest film, Biidaaban
- CBC Arts: Biidaaban (The Dawn Comes) | Full Film
- Remai Modern Field: Atautchikun | wâhkôtamowin curatorial essay
Atautchikun | wâhkôtamowin is on view in Remai Modern’s Collection Galleries until March 13, 2022.