TETHER

I had the opportunity of co-curating TETHER with Leanne Inuarak-Dall, Darcie “Ouiyaghasiak” Bernhardt, and Heather Von Steinhagen at the Yukon Arts Centre.

June 25 - August 26, 2022

TETHER was featured during the 2022 Arctic Arts Summit held in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. We had the opportunity to commission work from individual artists, exhibit the work of artists in the Circumpolar Incubator, as well as selecting art from an array of collections including Global Affairs Canada, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, Canada Council Art Bank, Winnipeg Art Gallery (Nunavut Fine Art Collection), Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yukon Permanent Art Collection, and the Yukon Arts Centre Collection.

TETHER is a gathering of artworks by northern Indigenous artists whose practices integrate the complex and inseparable bonds we, as Indigenous peoples of the Circumpolar Arctic/Subarctic, have with one another and to the lands, waters and skies. Northern Indigenous peoples share connections through intersecting lineages of traditions, histories and creative innovations. What does it mean to be from the North? Through our intersectional and interwoven understandings, we have come to the conclusion that there are meaningful threads between regions and communities across the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Inuit Nunangat. The exhibiting artists use their work as a tool of sovereignty and a way to connect us to the past, present and future. In TETHER, we web together artworks and artists, traversing across time and space, that offer us moments of reflection and kinship. TETHER celebrates the knowledge of tools, wisdom, and stories within the artwork and the land that nurtured and carried— and continues to carry—each of these artists and our shared practices and knowledge, forward.

TETHER highlights our secured connection to place, where our spirits and the sacred remain ever-changing and fluid. TETHER reminds us of the tension and flexibility encompassed within the sense of northern Indigeneity. In TETHER we include both living and ancestor artists, celebrating the artists of the past while also following those threads into the future.

In bringing together both historical and contemporary works from seven collections of national significance, as well as the opportunity to commission artists working in both customary and digital media, we carefully curated works that reflect the breadth and richness of culture in the North. We transform the Yukon Arts Centre gallery space into an embodiment of our hearts, homes and subtle comforts. TETHER is a visual representation of our communities and cultures. As northern Indigenous peoples ourselves, it is important to illustrate what makes us, us. No matter where we are in the world, we are all tethered to our sense of place.

Visit: https://arcticartssummit.ca/tether/

All copyrights are retained by the individual artists and the Collections their work belongs to. All images by Christopher Walton.