CAG Reads

We’re delighted to announce the second installment of CAG Reads, a book club where artists invite us to read alongside them. Each month an artist proposes a book for our collective reading pleasure, culminating in a virtual hangout where the artist leads a wide-ranging discussion grounded in their chosen reading material.

For our June installment, we’re pleased to welcome Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill, a Metis artist and writer who lives and works on the unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. Hill’s sculptural practice explores the history of found materials to enquire into concepts of land, property, and economy. Her work has shown at Unit 17, Polygon Gallery, and the Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery in Vancouver; the Alberta Art Gallery in Edmonton; SBC galerie d’art contemporain in Montreal; and STRIDE Gallery in Calgary. Hill is a member of BUSH gallery, an Indigenous artist collective that seeks to challenge Eurocentric art models, and to centre the land and Indigenous epistemologies.

For this month’s CAG Reads, L’Hirondelle Hill has selected a suite of short texts: Tony’s Story (1981) by Leslie Marmon Silko, Against the Police (2007) by Miguel James (translated by Guillermo Parra) and The Author of the Acacia Seeds (1982) by Ursula k. Le Guin. Each of these texts explore rebellion, refusal and opposition—to the state, in art and otherwise.

Getting the books

Please follow these links to read Against the Police, Tony’s Story and The Author of the Acacia Seeds for free online.

For readers interested in picking up Leslie Marmon Silko’s Storyteller (1981) or Ursula Le Guin’s The Compass Rose (1982), both Massy Books and Pulp Fiction are continuing to receive orders and offer pick up services. Massy Books is generously offering a 20% discount for all CAG Reads participants ordering Storyteller. We also encourage participants to explore the eBook and audiobook catalogues available through their local libraries.