Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill

The sculptural work of Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill explores the fallacies embedded in colonial concepts of property, economy and family. Her works frequently frame Western systems of capitalism and control as both imposed and impermanent, emphasizing the endurance, power and radical potential of other surviving knowledges and economic practices. Often engaging the physical, historical or symbolic properties of the materials she works with, past projects have seen Hill variously use tobacco, found objects and deaccessioned museum artifacts to consider questions of labour, land, value, and reciprocity.

At the Contemporary Art Gallery, Hill presents *M******, a project that deepens the artist’s long-term inquiry into structures of kinship. Bringing together a suite of new works in sculpture, drawing and cameraless cinema, the exhibition sees Hill reflecting expansively on economies of parenting and reproductive labour. Harnessing references ranging from spores and parasites to Nadya “Octomom” Suleman, these works gesture toward an experience of motherhood that is multiplicitous, non-linear and visceral, both bound to and more than the limits and binaries frequently invoked by the word “Mother.”

#### Biography
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill is an artist and writer. Her practice explores the history of found materials to enquire into concepts of land, property, and economy. Recent exhibitions include the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the 59th Venice Biennale; Le Magasin CNAC, Grenoble; the Vancouver Art Gallery; the College Art Galleries at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon; and Gallery TPW, Toronto. She 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. Hill is Cree and English, with maternal roots in the Michel Band and Papaschase. She lives on the unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm and səlilwətaɬ Nations.


CAG Summer 2023 Program Guide - Web.pdf

CAG - Gabe Hill - Exhibition Guide - Regular Print - Web.pdf

CAG - Gabe Hill - Exhibition Guide - Large Print - Web.pdf

Several strips of hand-treated pint film with holes like cigarette burns are displayed on a white surface.

thumbnail_Process image, Gabe Hill.jpg

Process image, Gabe Hill.jpg

M*****

Sesemiya

For more than twenty years, Sesemiya (Tracy Williams) has been engaged with the revitalization of Coast Salish cultural practices. Through research, collaborative experimentation and consultation with Knowledge Keepers, Sesemiya’s work embodies her deep knowledge of Coast Salish lands. A fifth-generation cedar weaver, the objects she makes extend directly from her practice of gathering and preparing wild materials. 
 
Sesemiya presents at the Contemporary Art Gallery *s7ulh waḵáy̓stn iy ta stamsh cht* (Our Weapons and Warriors), a new body of work that sees the artist engaging the theme of land defence. Employing materials such as cedar slats and roots, fishskin leather, animal bones, and synthetic human skin, the exhibition alludes to the figure of a Sḵwx̱wú7mesh warrior in traditional accoutrement, armed with tools for battle. While the tools Sesemiya has recreated are anachronistic in nature, the project of cultural revitalization they result from is vitally urgent. *s7ulh waḵáy̓stn iy ta stamsh cht* proposes traditional ways of living, knowing, and being with the land to themselves be acts of resistance to the ongoing colonial occupation of unsurrendered Sḵwx̱wú7mesh lands, in the artist’s words, “inspiring the future generations of stelmexw to *tl’a7ashen ta nexwniẁ-chet* (celebrate our teachings that make us who we are).”

#### Biography
Sesemiya (Tracy Williams) is a knowledge seeker, dreamer, water protector, land defender, lover, mother, auntie, weaver, and cultural practitioner. Her rich relationships with plants, animals, land, and water have taken her to the tops of mountains, the bottom of the ocean, fields of fireweed, and occasionally art galleries. Her work has appeared in exhibitions such as *lineages and land bases*, Vancouver Art Gallery (2020); *Intangible: Memory and Innovation in Coast Salish Art*, Bill Reid Gallery (2017); and *N. Vancouver*, The Polygon Gallery (2017). In 2021, a commissioned work of Sesemiya’s was included in the Vancouver Art Gallery’s presentation of Yoko Ono’s *Water Event*. Sesemiya is a proud member of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) Nation.


CAG - Sesemiya - Exhibition Guide - Regular Print - Web.pdf

CAG - Sesemiya - Exhibition Guide - Large Print - Web.pdf

A carved stone wrapped with a rope displayed on a wooden surface.

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Stone Necklace.jpg

s7ulh waḵáy̓stn iy ta stamsh cht

Dionne Lee

The work of Dionne Lee engages closely with photographic methodologies to pursue forms of knowledge counter to the imperialist assumptions that underlie the conventions of North American landscape photography. Central to Lee’s practice is the body’s experience of the world at a close distance, a scale that she privileges in her work as an access point for understanding the relationship between people and land.

In *Ratios*, displayed as a trio of photographs at Yaletown-Roundhouse Station and a series of successively darkening photocopies on CAG’s façade, Lee mutually implicates small rocks and her own hand as tools to measure each other. Invoking the practice in geological survey photographs to include small objects in frame to indicate scale, these works stage by proxy the relationship between human bodies and land, and the asymmetry of their impacts on one another. 

*Dionne Lee: Ratios* is presented in partnership with the Canada Line Public Art Program — InTransit BC.

#### Biography
Dionne Lee is a visual artist working in photography, collage, sculpture, and video. Her work explores power and personal history in relation to the American landscape, and interrogates historical narratives that exist within photographic representations of land and place. Lee received her MFA from California College of the Arts. She has exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Feria Material, Mexico City; New Orleans Museum of Art; Aperture Foundation, New York; Silver Eye Center for Photography, Pittsburgh; Museum of Fine Arts Houston; and the San Francisco Arts Commission, among others. Lee was a 2022 Artist-in-Residence at the Chinati Foundation and is a 2021–2023 Artist-in-Residence with Unseen California.

CAG - Dionne Lee - Exhibition Guide - Regular Print - Web.pdf

CAG - Dionne Lee - Exhibition Guide - Large Print - Web.pdf

thumbnail_Dionne Lee - Ratios (detail).jpg

Dionne Lee - Ratios (detail).jpg

Ratios

We’re working on our [upcoming exhibitions](/exhibitions-and-events/upcoming). Check back soon! [Visit our archive](/exhibitions-and-events/archive/all) to see past exhibitions and events.

Closed for installation

Join CAG’s Curator Godfre Leung for a walkthrough of the current exhibitions.

### Accessibility
ASL interpretation is available on request. Requests can be accommodated up to 5 days in advance. Please contact [learning@cagvancouver.org](mailto:learning@cagvancouver.org) to book or for more information.

### RSVP
No advance registration required.

A stone with the outline of a handprint is displayed on a blue tarped surface.

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DL_YT_North.jpg

with Godfre Leung

Curatorial Tour

Karice Mitchell

One Saturday each month, CAG invites a guest host to lead walkthroughs of our current exhibitions, offering their insights and response to the works on view. In June, we welcome Karice Mitchell to speak on the work of Dionne Lee. 

### Accessibility
ASL interpretation is available on request. Requests can be accommodated up to 5 days in advance. Please contact [learning@cagvancouver.org](mailto:learning@cagvancouver.org) to book or for more information.

### RSVP
No advance registration required.

### Biography
Karice Mitchell (b. 1996, Toronto) is a photo-based installation artist whose practice uses found imagery and digital manipulation to engage with issues relating to the representation of the Black female body in pornography and popular culture. Her work seeks to re-contextualize pre-existing images to reimagine the possibilities for Black womanhood and sexuality detached from the white gaze and patriarchy. She received her BFA at York University in 2019 and her MFA at the University of Waterloo in June 2021. She resides on the unceded and traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. She is a full-time lecturer at the University of British Columbia Vancouver campus.

thumbnail_KM_Headshot.jpeg

KM_Headshot.jpeg

Karice Mitchell on Dionne Lee

Saturday Session

[RSVP](https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/open-studio-sleway-working-with-cedar-with-sesemiya-tickets-645644107907 "button")

Open Studio is a monthly program for young visitors and families inspired by contemporary art practices and CAG’s current exhibitions. In June, we invite you to join us for a hands-on workshop led by exhibiting artist Sesemiya.

Inspired by her current exhibition *s7ulh waḵáy̓stn iy ta stamsh cht* (Our Weapons and Warriors), participants will learn about ancient weapons and tools of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh stamsh (warrior). Sesemiya will guide the group in making a fundamental and versatile tool, cedar rope, as well as talk about the importance of protecting our wild spaces and waterways.

### RSVP
Registration for this event is free, but limited. A number of spots are reserved for families. RSVP to secure your place [here](https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/open-studio-sleway-working-with-cedar-with-sesemiya-tickets-645644107907).

### Biography
Sesemiya (Tracy Williams) is a knowledge seeker, dreamer, water protector, land defender, lover, mother, auntie, weaver, and cultural practitioner. Her rich relationships with plants, animals, land, and water have taken her to the tops of mountains, the bottom of the ocean, fields of fireweed, and occasionally art galleries. Her work as an artist and educator is deeply invested in cultural revitalization and she has developed numerous programmes for connecting Sḵwx̱wú7mesh youth to traditional hand technologies and knowledge for living off the land. Her work has appeared in exhibitions such as *lineages and land bases*, Vancouver Art Gallery (2020); *Intangible: Memory and Innovation in Coast Salish Art*, Bill Reid Gallery (2017); and *N. Vancouver*, The Polygon Gallery (2017). In 2021, a commissioned work of Sesemiya’s was included in the Vancouver Art Gallery’s presentation of Yoko Ono’s *Water Event*. Sesemiya is a proud member of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Nation.

### Accessibility
ASL interpretation is available on request. Requests can be accommodated up to 5 days in advance. Please contact [learning@cagvancouver.org](mailto:learning@cagvancouver.org) to book or for more information.

Sesemiya in profile holding a woven basket.

thumbnail_Sesemiya Headshot - Courtesy of the artist.jpg

Sesemiya Headshot - Courtesy of the artist.jpg

Working with Cedar with Sesemiya (Open Studio)

Sléway̓

A black and white photograph of Whess Harman. They sit by the water and smiling. 

thumbnail_Polarioid_photocredit_EliHirtle.jpeg

Polarioid_photocredit_EliHirtle.jpeg

Whess Harman

One Saturday each month, CAG invites a guest host to lead walkthroughs of our current exhibitions, offering their insights and response to the works on view. In July, we welcome Whess Harman to speak on the work of Gabrielle L'Hirondelle Hill. 

### Accessibility
ASL interpretation is available on request. Requests can be accommodated up to 5 days in advance. Please contact [learning@cagvancouver.org](mailto:learning@cagvancouver.org) to book or for more information.

### RSVP
No advance registration required.

### Biography
Whess Harman is a member of the Carrier Wit’at Nation, a nation amalgamated by the federal government under the Lake Babine Nation. He doesn’t like cops and believes in land sovereignty for Indigenous peoples all across the globe. In his arts practice he works primarily in drawing, text and textiles. As the curator at grunt gallery and occasional editor for a mish-mash of publications, he prioritizes emerging queer and BIPOC cultural workers and artists. Whess looks to the arts as one of many tools in fighting oppressive forces and can be a little fucking rude about it, when the occasion calls.

Whess Harman on Gabrielle L'Hirondelle Hill

Join CAG’s Executive Director Matthew Hyland for a walkthrough of the current exhibitions.

### Accessibility
ASL interpretation is available on request. Requests can be accommodated up to 5 days in advance. Please contact [learning@cagvancouver.org](mailto:learning@cagvancouver.org) to book or for more information.

### RSVP
No advance registration required.

thumbnail_2023_L_Hirondelle Hill_CAG_1.jpg

2023_L_Hirondelle Hill_CAG_1.jpg

with Matthew Hyland

Audie Murray

[RSVP](https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0sfuCoqzsuE9xtCSg1Nv_USKC28m5PPO8r "button")

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

In July, CAG Reads will be hosted by Audie Murray. Audie has chosen to read a selection of texts including *Love As Political Resistance* (2019) by adrienne maree brown, *Net Charms in Cree and Ojibwe Language* (2012) by George Fulford and the children's book *Owls See Clearly at Night: A Michif Alphabet/Lii Yiiboo Nayaapiwak lii Swer: L'Alfabet Di Michif* (2010) by Julie Flett.

### Getting the texts
Access to all of Audie's CAG Reads selections will be provided upon registration.

### RSVP
Registration for this event is free, but limited. RSVP to secure your place [here](https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0sfuCoqzsuE9xtCSg1Nv_USKC28m5PPO8r).

Questions? Send us a note at [cagreads@cagvancouver.org](mailto:cagreads@cagvancouver.org).

### Accessibility
This event will be live captioned (CART). For more information please contact [learning@cagvancouver.org](mailto:learning@cagvancouver.org).

ASL interpretation is available on request. Requests can be accommodated up to 5 days in advance. Please contact [learning@cagvancouver.org](mailto:learning@cagvancouver.org) to book or for more information.

### Biography
Audie Murray is a visual artist, dreamer, and skin-stitcher. Her practice is informed by the process of making and visiting to explore themes of contemporary culture, embodied experiences and lived dualities. These modes of working assist with the recentering of our collective connection to bodies, ancestral knowledge systems, and relationality. She has exhibited widely, including at Remai Modern, Saskatoon; The Vancouver Art Gallery; Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow; and the Anchorage Museum. Murray is Cree-Métis from the Lebret and Meadow Lake communities located on Treaty 4 & 6 territories and is currently based in Oskana kâ-asastêki (Regina, Saskatchewan). Murray is represented by Fazakas Gallery, located on Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Səl̓ílwətaʔ, and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm territory.

A tintype image of Audie Murray in profile. She is holding a baby in her arms.

thumbnail_Audie Murray - Headshot - Photo by Brittney Appleby.jpg

Audie Murray - Headshot - Photo by Brittney Appleby.jpg

Audie Murray presents adrienne maree brown, George Fulford and Julie Flett

CAG Reads

Latashkinem

One Saturday each month, CAG invites a guest host to lead walkthroughs of our current exhibitions, offering their insights and response to the works on view. In August, we welcome Latashkinem to speak on the work of Sesemiya. 

### Accessibility
ASL interpretation is available on request. Requests can be accommodated up to 5 days in advance. Please contact [learning@cagvancouver.org](mailto:learning@cagvancouver.org) to book or for more information.

### RSVP
No advance registration required.

### Biography
Nilh kwens Latashkinem kweshamen aka Robert Williams tina chen tla Humulchestn Uxwumixw ti Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Temixw. My ancestral name is Latashkinem aka Robert Williams and I currently reside in the village of Humulchestn in the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Territory. I worked with our tribe as a cultural worker providing support to our youth with the guidance of our elders and chiefs. My new career as a digital artist and storyteller has allowed me to adapt my knowledge and experience in a modern context. My future goals are to write new stories for children and create art inspired by the legends and history of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh. En wenaxten skwalewen. I have love for our people.

Exhibitions

Talks & Events