Audie Murray and Nico Williams | Eat It Up
to
The Bows 2001B 10 Avenue SW, Calgary, Alberta T3C 0K4
Audie Murray, “I recognize the ways you shift insides (Rugoru),” 2021
(Credit: Toni Hafkenscheid Courtesy of The Robert McLaughlin Gallery)
Opening Reception: July 12, 6 - 9 pm
Neo-Capitalism Meets Post-Colonialism In The Ikea Food Court.
Recognizing colonial extraction through contemporary consumption.
For Audie Murray and Nico Williams’ dual exhibition, Eat It Up, the artist’s use identifiable aesthetics to recapitulate how Indigeneity and Land Back can be recognized in and understood through hyper-public spaces, such as retail stores, restaurants, and art institutions.
Eat It Up is a visually playful exhibition that navigates current settler-colonialism perceptions regarding Indigenous identity and art, specifically beadwork. Using salient references to highly obtrusive yet deeply empty settler creations, such as Ikea and highly decorative cakes, Murray and Williams’ focus the spotlight on how their work is often neglected to be seen as the historically-rich and contemporarily-influential art forms they are. The referential choices directly reflect the extractive relationship settlers have with land and Indigenous communities, and leverage capriciously the darkness of these colonial realities (consumption, excess, greed) against the appearance of fanciful objects (cakes, branded shopping bags) meant to charm viewers. What results is an exhibition that complicates our understanding of how Indigeneity traditionally functions within the public sphere, and challenges viewers to consider how consumption influences the relationships to the world around them.
Eat It Up also has a public program component, curated and organized by artist Morgan Black. Black has developed programs that span widely in activity but all are tied to Indigenous storytelling and decolonial narrative practices. These workshops will take place throughout the duration of the exhibition's presentation, and will be open to the public with limited capacity.
Artist Talk:
July 13, 12 - 1:30 pm
Audie Murray and Nico Williams in conversation with Judy Anderson
Beading Workshop
July 13, 3 - 6 pm
Led by Letecia Ochoa
A Walk Through Colonization Workshop
August 24, 12 - 3 pm
Led by Gitz Derange
Registration Coming Soon
Coyote and Crow Night
September 21, 6 - 9 pm
Led by Morgan Black and May Kineyetums
Registration Coming Soon
Google
Yahoo
Outlook
ical