21
with Cheryl L’Hirondelle, Divya Mehra, Jayce Salloum, Camille Turner, Gabriel Yahyahkeekoot
A Space Main Gallery
February 16 – March 17, 2007
Curated by: Elwood Jimmy
By design, the artists participating in the 21 exhibition come from aboriginal and other non-dominant cultures. Their works move beyond cultural representation and expectation, providing viewers with the opportunity to re-examine and reconfigure how we relate to one another. The works of Cheryl l’Hirondelle, Divya Mehra, Jayce Salloum, Camille Turner and Gabriel Yahyahkeekoot address different aspects of the cultural realities occurring in this country. What unites them is their ongoing willingness to subvert dependencies on archetypes, definitions, and labels in the creation of identity as they move toward the reconciliation of politicized identities and evolving contemporary realities.
Biographies
Cheryl l’Hirondelle (aka Waynohtew, Cheryl Koprek) is an Alberta born, Vancouver based Metis/Cree non-status, French, German, Polish multi/interdisciplinary artist. Her practice is an investigation of the intersection of cree worldview (nehiyawin) and the interdisciplinarity of creative expression inherent in other indigenous, world and youth cultures. She develops performative physical endurances, infiltrations and interventions, site-specific installations, and interactive net.art projects.
Divya Mehra is a multimedia artist who is currently attending Columbia University to complete her MFA. She obtained her BFA degree from the University of Manitoba. Her work has been exhibited across Canada.
Jayce Salloum has worked in video, installation, photography, drawing, performance, and text since 1975, as well as curating exhibitions, conducting workshops and coordinating cultural projects. He has lectured worldwide and exhibited internationally in institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Canada; Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin; Centre Pompideau, Paris; 8th Havana Biennial. Salloum’s texts have appeared in many journals such as Third Text, Documents, Framework, Fuse, Felix, Mix, Public, Pubic Culture and Semiotext(e).
Camille Turner is a Toronto-based media/performance artist and cultural producer. She is a founding member of Year Zero One and has presented her collaborative projects, community engagements, public performance and digital interventions at venues such as: Dak’art lab 2004, La Biennale de lÕart African contemporain, Senegal and at the Banff New Media Institute. She was a visiting artist at Interaktions-Labor in Germany and at The Container Project in rural Jamaica. Turner is currently artist-in-residence at Central Neighbourhood House.
Gabriel Yahyahkeekoot is a multi-disciplinary artist, originally from Beardy’s and Okemasis First Nation. Much of his work stems from his personal experiences in the city of Regina, the place he grew up and still calls home. His work has shown across Canada.
Elwood Jimmy is currently based in Toronto. He works as a programmer, curator, writer, community animator, and artist. Over the last two decades, he has been supported by several different organizations in building visual, media, and interdisciplinary projects that privilege collaboration, community-building, cross-cultural, and cross-generational interaction around a variety of historical and contemporary narratives. His cultural background, comprised of Nakawe (his mother) and Nehiyaw (his father), often plays a foundational role in his work.