Claiming Space: Voices of Urban Aboriginal Youth looks at the diverse ways urban Aboriginal youth are asserting their identity and affirming their relationship to both urban spaces and ancestral territories. Unfiltered and unapologetic, over 20 young artists from across Canada, the US, and around the world define what it really means to be an urban Aboriginal youth today. In doing so they challeng
e centuries of stereotyping and assimilation policies. This exhibit will leave visitors with the understanding that today’s urban Aboriginal youth are not only acutely aware of the ongoing impacts of colonization, but are also creatively engaging with decolonizing movements through new media, film, fashion, photography, painting, performance, creative writing and traditional art forms. Artists in the exhibition include Alison Bremer (Tlingit), Deanna Bittern (Ojibwe), Kelli Clifton (Tsimshian), Jeneen Frie Njootle (Gwichin), Ippiksaut Friesen (Inuit), Tara Lee Gardner (St:olo), Clifton Guthrie (Tsimshian), Cody Lecoy (Okanagan/Esquimalt), Danielle Morsette (St:olo/Suquamish), Ellena Neel (Kwakwaka’wakw/Ahousaht), Diamond Point (Musqueam), Crystal Smith (Git’ga’at), Kelsey Sparrow (Musqueam/Anishinabe), Cole Speck (Kwakwaka’wakw), Rose Stiffarm (Blackfeet, Tsartlip, Assiniboine Cree), Taleetha Tait (Wet’suwet’en), Marja Bal Nango (Sami, Norway), Harry Brown (Kwakwaka’wakw), Anna McKenzie (Opaskwayak Cree, Manitoba), Sarah Yankoo (Austrian, Scottish, Algonquin, Irish and Romanian), Raymond Caplin (Mi’gmac), Emilio Wawatie (Anishanabe) and the Northern Collection (Projek Toombz (Mohawk), the Curse (Mi’maq). Also included are works from the Urban Native Youth Association, Musqueam youth and the Native Youth Program. The exhibition is curated by Pam Brown (Heiltsuk Nation), Curator, Pacific Northwest, and Curatorial Assistant Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers (Blackfoot, Blood Reserve/Sami, northern Norway).
