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Art Gallery of Guelph acquires work by contemporary Indigenous artists

The work by KC Adams, Sonny Assu, Kent Monkman, and Meagan Musseau is expected to add a voice to the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit collections at the AGG
assu-away-team-beams-down
Sonny Assu, The Away Team Beams Down to What Appears to Be an Uninhabited Planet, 2016. Supplied Photo.

The Art Gallery of Guelph has acquired 10 pieces of artwork by four indigenous artists.

The work by KC Adams, Sonny Assu, Kent Monkman, and Meagan Musseau is expected to add a voice to the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit collections at the AGG, they said in a news release.

Through a budget given by the University of Guelph’s Learning Enhancement Fund, students were required to research and present the selected pieces to the university panel for acquisition.

Winnipeg based artist KC Adams from the First Nations work spans sculpture, installation, drawing, painting, photography, ceramics, printmaking, and kinetic art delving in the realm of popular culture, technology, and science fiction to address contemporary social issues.

The AGG will host five photographs from Adams’ first Cyborg Hybrid series that addresses issues such as identity, racism, and colonization

British Columbia based Sonny Assu, Liǥwildaʼx̱w of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations explores Western and Kwakwaka’wakw cultural references through painting, sculpture, photography, and printmaking. The AGG will host two photographs from his  Interventions on the Imaginary (2016) series.

Visual and performance First Nations artist, Kent Monkman’s work spans painting, film/video, and installation. The AGG acquired three of his works including video painting The Transfiguration (2015) as well as the print To Have and to Clothe Until Death Do Us Part (2018), tied to Another Feather in Her Bonnet.

Newfoundland based Meagan Musseau’s work incorporates performance, new media, beadwork, embroidery, hand sewing, and basket making. The AGG commissioned a basket from her which is part of her series Intergalactic L’nu Baskets (2017–18)

List of artworks acquired:

  1. KC Adams, Cyborg Hybrid KC (Visual artist): "INDIAN PRINCESS", 2005, digital print, 25 x 33 in.
  2. KC Adams, Cyborg Hybrid Candice (Curator): "SCALPING IS IN MY BLOOD", 2005, digital print, 25 x 33 in.
  3. KC Adams, Cyborg Hybrid Mark (Visual artist): "IGLOO BUILDER", 2005, digital print, 25 x 33 in.
  4. KC Adams, Cyborg Hybrid Adam (Visual artist): "FORMER LAND OWNER", 2005, digital print, 25 x 33 in.
  5. KC Adams, Cyborg Hybrid Yvonne (Curator): "SPIRITUAL BY DEFAULT", 2005, digital print, 25 x 33 in.
  6. Sonny Assu, The Away Team Beams Down to What Appears to Be an Uninhabited Planet, 2016, printed 2019, AP 1/2, digital intervention on an Emily Carr painting (Vanquished, 1930), 22 x 33 in.
  7. Sonny Assu, Making a b-line to HaidaBucks, Salmonberry Frap #ftw #starbucksFAIL #lol, 2016, printed 2019, AP 1/2, digital intervention on an Emily Carr painting (Yan, Q.C.I., 1912), 22 x 33 in.
  8. Kent Monkman, To Have and to Clothe Until Death Do Us Part, 2018, ed. 11/25, giclée print, 14 x 10 in.
  9. Kent Monkman, The Transfiguration, 2015, video painting, 4:23 min.
  10. The AGG has commissioned a basket from Meagan Musseau, as part of her series Intergalactic L’nu Baskets (2017–18) that consists of traditional Mi’kmaq forms created using synthetic vinyl and neon flagging tape instead of natural materials.

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