From Cara Krmpotich
There are two great opportunities to visit the exhibition Radical Stitch, co-curated by Michelle Lavallee, Cathy Mattes and GRASAC’s Sherry Farrell Racette. It is on now at the Art Gallery of Hamilton, where admission is always free for Indigenous visitors, and free for everyone on Thursdays. The exhibit runs until August 27, 2023 and then travels to Thunder Bay Art Gallery where it will be on display from October 2023 to March 2024.
Radical Stitch brings together contemporary beadwork as expressions of persistence, creativity, humour and wit, sovereignty, artistry, compassion, and as Sherry Farrell Racette says, radical acts of survival and radical acts of love. Featuring multiple Great Lakes artists (including Jean Marshall, Nico Williams, Kenneth Williams Jr., Nadia Myre, Barry Ace, and Samuel Thomas, just to name a few!), the show makes visible the breadth of beadwork artistry and even the breadth of beads being used by Indigenous artists.
A “Curatorial Walkthrough” is available as a video in the gallery, and also online. It’s less “walking” and more beading, tea-drinking, and chatting! As a travelling exhibit, some works are only available in certain locations; the video provides insights into the show’s original installation at the Mackenzie Art Gallery in Regina, Saskatechewan, and the curators’ love and admiration for the beadworkers, as well as the beads and pixels, hides and cloth, threads and sinew.
If your institution would like to host Radical Stitch, you can find the Touring Prospectus online, or reach out to the wonderful folks at the Mackenzie Art Gallery.