LITTLE FIRES | Dan Cardinal McCartney
LITTLE FIRES by Dan Cardinal McCartney is presented in partnership with Urban Shaman & the National Indigenous Media Arts Coalition
The exhibition runs from July 4 to August 30, 2025
Opening reception July 4 – 5 pm at Urban Shaman Gallery
Closing reception – Friday, August 29th – 5:00-9:00 pm at Urban Shaman Gallery
Artist talk and community events with Dan in attendance will be in late August
About the show:
Little Fires is a three-channel video installation that explores the intersections of environmental change and colonialism. Centering on building a small fire, Dan reflects on returning to their hometown of the oil industry, Fort McMurray, and their family’s ancestral territory in Fort Chipewyan. As someone who grew up in foster care, Little Fires is a return to the land and an embodied memory. Dan offers footage of the aftermath of the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire, referred to locally as “The Beast,” at the bank of Horse River where the fire initially sparked.
Accompanying the videos is a voiceover of Dan’s poem The Arrival, which engages directly with The Book of Dene—a 1976 missionary publication produced by Catholic priests at Holy Angels Residential School in Fort Chipewyan. The book contains translated oral histories of Chipewyan people, told originally in different dialects of Dene, then translated into French and later English for publication. The original speakers, including Dan’s ancestors, were never recorded.
In Fort Chipewyan, Dan documents the eerie dry shores of Athabasca Lake, where the water level has never been this low since time immemorial. They visit the shoreline where the remains of the Holy Angels building lie after being anonymously burnt down, including the site where parents of the children who were forced to attend would set up camp on the river banks at night to keep close but also let their children know they were still there. Dan’s family was forcibly enrolled at Holy Angels for generations, from its founding in 1873 to its closure in 1974.
About the artist
Dan Cardinal McCartney (he/him) is an interdisciplinary artist and curator who holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from AUArts (2016) in Drawing. Most importantly, they are a full-time caregiver for their sister, Karri. Dan is of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations with family ties of Mikisew Cree, Metis, and mixed settler lines from Treaty 8 territory, specifically Fort Chipewyan. He was raised in foster care in the northern boreal region of Fort McMurray.
As a Two Spirit transgender artist, Dan sifts through patterns of intergenerational trauma. He relates his personal, ongoing reconnection with his family to his yearning for gender euphoria through storytelling. Dan focuses on mixed media collage, painting, moving images, and performance. He is interested in the genre of horror through a contemporary, Indigenous lens. Currently, Dan is a Co-Artistic Director at Stride Gallery in so-called Calgary, Alberta and is a Core Member of the Ociciwan Contemporary Art Collective based in Edmonton, Alberta.
Adjunct Programming with Urban Shaman Gallery
2Spirit Artists Tea with Daniel Cardinal McCartney
Thursday, August 28th – 6:00-8:00 pm
Urban Shaman Gallery – 203-290 McDermot Ave. Winnipeg, Manitoba
Calling all 2Spirit artists in Winnipeg! The National Indigenous Media Arts Coalition & Urban Shaman are excited to host Daniel Cardinal McCartney for tea and conversation – inviting in the 2S arts community to share about your practices and build new connections in the Indigenous arts scene.
2SLGBTQ+ artists of all practices welcome – fine art, music, drag, beadwork, etc. All ages welcome!
Free | Food and Drinks | Drop-In | All Ages
Closing Reception with Daniel Cardinal McCartney
Friday, August 29th – 5:00-9:00 pm
Join Dan Cardinal McCartney for the closing reception of their solo exhibition ‘LITTLE FIRES’ presented in partnership with National Indigenous Media Arts Coalition & Urban Shaman.
Free | Food and Drinks