The National Gallery of Canada’s newest exhibition celebrates an ancient art form with a contemporary twist.
Radical Stitch features 101 beadworks from 44 First Nations, Métis and Inuit artists from across North America.
“This exhibition goes beyond making a statement, it celebrates a rich form of art that has flourished through the ages,” said Jean-François Bélisle, the director and CEO of the National Gallery.
The exhibition features portraiture, video, wearable art and installations and demonstrates the variability of an art form that has been viewed in the past as a craft done mostly by women rather than as an example of fine art.
“The exhibition provides a glimpse into the diversity and breadth of contemporary beadwork practices today,” wrote the National Gallery on its website.
“Whether through humour, testimony or contemplation, the artists create relations with artmaking, learning and teaching.”
The exhibition was organized and circulated by the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina. It has previously been showcased in Hamilton and Thunder Bay.
“Indigenous beading is one of our generation’s most exciting movements in contemporary art,” said John G. Hampton, the CEO and executive director of the MacKenzie Art Gallery.
“Rooted in cultural and territorial specificity, beadwork is especially relevant in this moment of cultural shift and divide. Artists are leading a path for honouring long-held wisdom alongside innovation, evolution, and community.”
The exhibition runs until Sept. 30.
