Boarder X & Vernon Ah Kee: cantchant

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"Boarder X" and "Vernon Ah Kee: cantchant"

Mark Igloliorte, "My Yellow Aquanaut," 17’ 7”, 2016; Vernon Ah Kee. "Wegrewhere #3" (detail), 2009. Digital print on Fujiflex. 76 x 136 cm

Boarder X features new work by Indigenous artists that use snowboarding, skateboarding, and surfing to demonstrate knowledge and relationships to the land. The artwork reflects cultural, political, environmental, and social perspectives related to the landscapes and territories we occupy. These boarding lifestyles share synergies with Indigeneity, connected by an appreciation for the land and water. The exhibit reveals how culture, art, and board intersect. In this context, board culture works to examine contested spaces, political boarders, hybrid identities, and traditional territories.

Artists: Jordan Bennett, Roger Crait, Steven Davies, Mark Igloliorte, Mason Mashon, Meghann O’Brien, and Les Ramsay

Curated by Jaimie Isaac, WAG Curatorial Resident of Indigenous & Contemporary Art

Vernon Ah Kee: cantchant

Organized by the National Gallery of Canada • Curated by Jaimie Isaac, WAG Curatorial Resident of Indigenous & Contemporary Art

This large video, text, portraiture, and surfboard exhibition is by Australian contemporary artist Vernon Ah Kee. Ah Kee relies on his Aboriginal identity as a framework to produce art; his Indigenous familial identities are intrinsic to his work. Presented alongside Boarder X, cantchant is significantly layered—the surfboards and video connect cultural identities to disputed territory around Australia’s beaches as it relates to ownership, conflict, and land claims.

Ah Kee’s surfboards reflect traditional shield designs in the colours of the Australian Aboriginal flag, and on the flip side provide beautifully drawn portraits of family. The accompanying video shows Aboriginal surfers using the artist’s surfboards in fierce competition.

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Jordan Bennett "Guidelines, The Basket Ladies" (detail), 2014

carving with ink on wood and video installation.

Boarder X: Artist Round Table & Michael Langan Talk

Saturday November 19, 2016 Beginning at 3pm, an afternoon program inspired by Boarder X. Admission is free!

• Talk by Michael Langan, founder of Colonialism Skateboards
• Boarder X artists Jordan Bennett, Roger Crait, Steven Davies, Mark Igoliorte, Meghann O’Brien, and Les Ramsey in conversation with moderator Jaimie Isaac, WAG Curatorial Resident of Indigenous & Contemporary Art.

Source: Winnipeg Art Gallery