Beaded Brain Scans

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Ruth Cuthand, “Schizophrenia,” 2023

glass beads, thread and backing, 11" x 11" (courtesy the artist and The Gallery / art placement, Saskatoon)

Ruth Cuthand’s collaborative exhibition with her adult son, Theo, tells the moving story of his mental health crisis, offering hope not only for other Indigenous families, but also for Canada’s larger population. The show features five of her Brain Scans, a new series of stunning beadworks based on medical resonance imaging of the brains of neurodiverse individuals, as well as people with various mental health issues, including anxiety, depression and schizophrenia.

Also included is Neurotransmitting, a 2021 video the two artists made together. It combines footage showing Cuthand’s jewel-like brain scans, along with audio of mother and son candidly discussing his 2007 hospitalization for bipolar disorder. It’s the first time the works, on view until Oct. 21 at the Nelson Museum, Archives & Gallery in the B.C. Interior, have been shown together.

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Ruth Cuthand, “Mania,” 2023

glass beads, thread and backing, 11" x 11" (courtesy the artist and The Gallery / art placement, Saskatoon)

Cuthand uses glow-in-the-dark beads stitched on black backings, creating a dramatic visual contrast within each piece. By limiting her palette to six colours, she establishes harmony across the larger body of work. Mania, for instance, is predominately bright pink with a yellow island, along with smaller patches of blue and green. ADHD is like a blue sky with yellow and pink clouds. Each work is beautiful although, in reality, such conditions typically evoke a painful mix of misunderstanding, stigma and shame. 

Yet such health issues are surprisingly common. One in five Canadians experiences mental illness in any given year, according to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, a Toronto mental health teaching hospital. Cuthand, an artist of Cree and Scottish heritage based in Saskatoon, says it’s a particular challenge for Indigenous communities. “Mental health is a big problem on reserves,” she says. “And there’s a lot of shame with it.” 

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Ruth and Theo Cuthand, “Brain Scans / Neurotransmitting,” 2023

installation view at Nelson Museum, Archives & Gallery, Nelson, B.C. (photo by Arin Fay)

Cuthand, who received a 2020 Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts, has earned acclaim for earlier beadworks depicting devastating viruses that arrived with European settlers. This show includes three of those pieces – Reserving: Measles and Surviving: Monkey Pox I and III – along with works from the Brain Scans series. Her pieces are displayed on three walls, while the fourth is set up as video-viewing area with chairs and black theatre-style curtains.

Audio for the video, created for the Textile Museum of Canada in Toronto, came from a Zoom conversation the two had during the pandemic. Ruth was in Saskatoon, while Theo, a filmmaker and performance artist who also goes by TJ, joined from Toronto. Neither is visible onscreen – instead, the camera zooms in and out on the beaded brain scans. 

Theo describes being bipolar: When you’re in mania it’s like all the lights and appliances in the house are on full-blast. And depression? “Everything’s off.” There’s an inviting friendliness and the two laugh together because, in the end, things worked out.

The gallery’s low light and minimalist installation lend the exhibition a calming spaciousness. The conversation from the looping eight-minute video drifts across the room. It feels like eavesdropping from upstairs on a candid family conversation down in the kitchen – you want to lean in to learn more.

The Cuthands, by offering hope to other families coping with mental illness, parallel the role of neurotransmitters, chemical messengers secreted by nerve cells to carry information to other cells, whether in nerves, muscles or glands. The information the artists transmit through their work, and the generous sharing of a deeply personal story, far surpasses that of most public health messaging. ■

Ruth and Theo Cuthand: Brain Scans / Neurotransmitting at the Nelson Museum, Archives & Gallery in Nelson, B.C., from June 24 to Oct. 21, 2023.

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