French to follow
Curator: Taqralik Partridge (Ottawa)
Exhibition Designer: Stefan St-Laurent (Ottawa)
Exhibition produced and circulated by SAW Nordic Lab
Running dates: August 5 to September 24, 2022
Artist Talk: Wednesday, September 21 at 12 pm CST
Opening reception: Friday, August 5, 2022. Time 5pm to 10pm
Guest performer on opening night: Zeann Manernaluk at 7pm
*Refreshments will be served
When the tide goes out, what was hidden becomes seen. And if the tide stayed out for a very long time, if we stood in one place long enough to examine each stone and saltwater pool, each piece of seaweed, each small creature, we might notice all their differences and all their similarities.
The exhibition Alakkaajut (Many Things Appear) features works by circumpolar artists Sonya Kelliher-Combs, Sissel M. Bergh and Maureen Gruben, most of which were created in the past year. These works presented together are the products of repetition—not copies, but multiples that belong to each other. With Alakkaajut, we have a moment to ask what is the value of a word, a thought, a movement completed many times.
Artist biographies
Iñupiaq and Athabaskan artist Sonya Kelliher-Combs was born in Bethel, Alaska, in 1969 and raised in Nome. She holds a BFA from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and an MFA from Arizona State University, Tempe. Her artwork references a sense of place, history, culture and family. Kelliher-Combs is the recipient of numerous awards including the Eiteljorg Museum Fellowship, the Anchorage, Alaska, Mayor’s Individual Artist Award, the Arctic Education Foundation Academic Excellence Award and the Best of Show honour at the Visual Arts Center of Alaska’s Vision of New Eyes exhibition. Her work can be found in numerous private and public collections including those of the National Museum of the American Indian, the Anchorage Museum, the Eiteljorg Museum, the British Royal Museum, the Institute of American Indian Art, the Museum of Contemporary Native Art and the Alaska State Museum.
Inuvialuk artist Maureen Gruben explores intimate materiality as she disassembles and re-combines disparate organic and industrial elements. Polar bear fur, beluga intestines and sealskins encounter resins, vinyl and bubble wrap, forging critical links between life in the Western Arctic and global environmental and cultural concerns. Gruben holds a BFA from the University of Victoria, and has exhibited regularly across Canada and internationally. She was longlisted for the 2019 Aesthetica Art Prize and the 2021 Sobey Art Award, and her work can be found in major public and private collections. Born and raised in Tuktoyaktuk, she has an implicit knowledge of Arctic land, and the rich but increasingly precarious resources it offers for both survival and creation.
Born in 1974, Sissel M. Bergh studied at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo and the University of Technology in Durban in South Africa. She has lived and worked in Lusaka, Zambia, and is now based in Trondheim, Norway. Bergh’s work often seeks to reveal how South Sámi history has been erased and how it may become visible again. Bergh uses films, objects, painting and drawing as investigatory tools to delve into concepts such as land, memory, power and magic. Bergh has shown her work nationally and internationally, including at Kunsthall Trondheim, Sámi Dáiddáguovdas, the Biennale of Sidney and the Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art.
Zeann Manernaluk guest performer on August 5 at 7pm
Zeann Manernaluk was born on June 14, 1991, in Winnipeg Manitoba shortly after her birth she was moved to Rankin Inuit Nunavut where she spent her childhood out on the land learning to fish, hunt ,and her favorite gathering berries. She moved to Manitoba at the age of 11 for educational purposes, Zeann has been throat singing since the age of 6 and has been performing professionally since she was 12. She has performed in many places across Manitoba including the opening of the millennium library, the Thunderbird house, the opening of the MTS Iceplex, she sang with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, as well as various schools and graduation ceremonies. She recently traveled to Vancouver B.C. To perform for the PRIDoc 2022 Conference. Zeann is very proud to be an Inuit and loves to educate and share her culture, especially with her 2 children.
*Special thanks to Ridgeland Aqua Farms 
Urban Shaman: Contemporary Aboriginal Art Gallery acknowledges the support of our friends, volunteers, community and all our relations, NCI FM, Wawanesa Insurance, Winnipeg Foundation, Manitoba Heritage, the Winnipeg Arts Council, the Manitoba Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the City of Ottawa, the Government of Canada, the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the Nordic Council of Ministers, the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Ottawa, the Ottawa Community Foundation, the Ottawa Art Society and SAW Gallery/the Nordic Lab. ~Miigwetch/ Hai Hai/ Ekosi / Merci/ Thank you
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ᐊᓚᒃᑳᔪᑦ Alakkaajut
(Plusieurs choses apparaissent)
Dates de diffusion : 5 août au 24 septembre 2022
Vernissage : vendredi 5 août 2022. 5 pm-10 pm
Discussion d’artiste : à confirmer
Sonya Kelliher-Combs (Anchorage, Alaska)
Maureen Gruben (Tuktoyaktuk, NT)
Sissel M. Bergh (Trondheim, Norvège)
Commissaire : Taqralik Partridge (Ottawa)
Concepteur de l’exposition : Stefan St-Laurent (Ottawa)
Quand la marée se retire, ce qui était caché devient visible. Et si la marée se retirait très longtemps, si l’on restait sur place suffisamment longtemps pour examiner chaque roche et chaque flaque d’eau salée, chaque morceau d’algue marine, chaque petite créature, on pourrait remarquer leurs moindres différences et similarités.
L’exposition Alakkaajut (Plusieurs choses apparaissent) réunit les œuvres des artistes circumpolaires Sonya Kelliher-Combs, Sissel M. Bergh et Maureen Gruben, dont la plupart ont été créées au cours de la dernière année. Présentées ensemble, ces œuvres sont les produits de la répétition – non pas des copies, mais des multiples qui appartiennent les uns aux autres. Avec Alakkaajut, nous disposons d’un moment pour demander quelle est la valeur d’un mot, d’une pensée, d’un mouvement achevé plusieurs fois.
Biographies des artistes
Sonya Kelliher-Combs, artiste iñupiaq et athabascane, est née à Bethel, en Alaska, en 1969 et a grandi à Nome. Elle détient un baccalauréat en beaux-arts de la University of Alaska Fairbanks et une maîtrise en beaux-arts de l’Arizona State University, à Tempe. Son œuvre transmet un sentiment de lieu, d’histoire, de culture et de famille. Kelliher-Combs est la lauréate de nombreuses récompenses, dont la Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship, l’Anchorage Mayor’s Individual Artist Award (Alaska), l’Arctic Education Foundation Academic Excellence Award et le prix de la meilleure présentation dans l’exposition New Eyes au Visual Arts Center of Alaska. Ses œuvres font partie de plusieurs collections particulières et publiques, entre autres celles du National Museum of the American Indian, de l’Anchorage Museum, de l’Eiteljorg Museum, du British Royal Museum, de l’Institute of American Indian Art, du Museum of Contemporary Native Art et de l’Alaska State Museum.
L’artiste inuvialuk Maureen Gruben explore la matérialité intime en démontant et recombinant des éléments organiques et industriels disparates. Fourrures d’ours polaire, intestins de béluga et peaux de phoque rencontrent des résines, du vinyle et du film à bulles, forgeant des liens critiques entre la vie dans l’Arctique de l’Ouest et des préoccupations environnementales mondiales et culturelles. Gruben est titulaire d’un baccalauréat en beaux-arts de la University of Victoria et expose de façon régulière au Canada et à l’échelle internationale. Elle figurait sur la liste préliminaire de l’Aesthetica Art Prize en 2019 et du Prix Sobey pour les arts en 2021. Son travail fait partie de collections publiques et particulières d’importance. Née et ayant grandi à Tuktoyaktuk, elle possède une connaissance implicite du territoire arctique et des ressources riches, mais de plus en plus précaires, qu’il offre tant pour la survie que pour la création.
Née en 1974, Sissel M. Bergh a étudié à l’Académie nationale des beaux-arts à Oslo et à la University of Technology à Durban, en Afrique du Sud. Elle a vécu et travaillé à Lusaka, au Zambie, et est maintenant établie à Trondheim, en Norvège. Dans son œuvre, Bergh cherche souvent à montrer que l’histoire des Sámis du Sud a été effacée et comment celle-ci pourrait redevenir visible. Bergh a recours au cinéma, aux objets, à la peinture et au dessin comme autant d’instruments d’exploration lui permettant de sonder des concepts tels le territoire, la mémoire, la puissance et la magie. Son œuvre a fait l’objet d’expositions sur les scènes nationale et internationale, dont à la Kunsthall Trondheim, à Sámi Dáiddáguovdas, à la Biennale de Sydney et à la Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art.
Urban Shaman: Contemporary Aboriginal Art Gallery reconnaît le soutien, tout au long de l’année, de nos amis, bénévoles, de la communauté et de toutes nos relations, NCI FM, Wawanesa Insurance, Winnipeg Foundation, Manitoba Heritage, le Winnipeg Arts Council, le Manitoba Arts Council, le Conseil des arts du Canada, Conseil des arts de l’Ontario, Ville d’Ottawa, gouvernement du Canada, Fondation Trillium de l’Ontario, Conseil nordique des ministres, Ambassade royale de Norvège à Ottawa, Fondation communautaire d’Ottawa, Société d’art d’Ottawa et SAW Galerie/le Nordic Lab. ~Miigwetch/ Hai Hai/ Ekosi / Merci/ Merci