March 5 - 27, 2021

Arts Underground Edge Gallery

Whitehorse, Yukon

This exhibition was several years in the making with two postponements due to the pandemic. I never anticipated that I would live through a worldwide traumatic event like the one we are currently experiencing. The pandemic has resulted in the loss of employment, the loss of creative energy, but most significantly, the loss of life. Like many, I found myself spending a lot of time in silence and grief. For several months in 2020, I experienced a lack of creative energy and spirit. Conversations like the ones I’ve had with Stormy and Teagyn helped bring me out of my creative slump and back to making and creating again. 

The artwork I have created for this exhibition expands over three years which is a feat in itself. However, many of the artworks needed time to develop and fully embrace what it was I wanted to contribute. Because I’m not someone who speaks openly about my body or my bodily functions, I felt I could express myself through humour. Popular culture and humour played a significant role in many of the artworks I created. However, I felt the need to balance my humour with glimpses of traditions relating to menstruation. I will not explain the details of these practices, but I am fascinated in thinking of ourselves as Indigenous Peoples in a non-colonial space, time, and reality.

In the end, I wanted to offer artworks that were comforting, thought-provoking, and humorous to audiences. I hope the work sparks a sort of dialogue and consideration to the topics of self-care, self-love, and how our diverse cultural understandings influence identity. Rarely do we see Indigenous women openly share, converse, and create artworks about our bodies and our experiences. These spaces are taken up by men, both historically and currently; even Indigenous men are guilty of taking up space meant for Indigenous women. It was important to me, and I believe for the collective, that we create a space of our own. A space where we feel safe to express our individual selves.