Jobena Petonoquot

×

Expand

Jobena Petonoquot, "Rebellion of my Ancestors," 2022

installation view at the Ottawa Art Gallery showing, at centre, "Bringer of Death," 2018, beads, lace, deer hide, wooden dowel rods, teacups and cedar branches (courtesy of the artist, photo by Rémi Thériault)

Storytelling is the primary way Indigenous peoples have transmitted knowledge since time immemorial. Beading is also a way to communicate and document stories and is understood to this day as a visual memory keeper. The creativity and innovation central to beading practices also express the power of beauty and resilience. Beadwork is central in Jobena Petonoquot’s exhibition, Rebellion of my Ancestors: Nid Ànike-mishòmisibaneg Od-Àbimìtàgewiniwà, on view at the Ottawa Art Gallery until Aug. 14. 

Within the red walls of the gallery space is a striking installation, Bringer of Death. The title denotes a sense of darkness that’s echoed by subtle nuances within the work. A small teepee made with lace is adorned with a raven beaded on animal hide. Four china cups containing sprigs of Labrador tea sit on cedar branches laid around the teepee. Both plants are traditional medicines and suggest healing. The lace and teacups represent the Victorian era, a time when Petonoquot’s Algonquin grandfather struggled to maintain his Indigeneity, rebelling against the colonial powers by continuing to hunt and trap. It is this resistance that is referenced throughout this moving exhibition. 

×

1 of 2

Expand

Jobena Petonoquot, "Resilient Repugnance: Baptism Gowns," 2018

fabric, beads, earth, birch branch and cedar, installation view (courtesy of the artist, photo by Rémi Thériault)

×

2 of 2

Expand

Jobena Petonoquot, "Bury Colonialism I," 2018

photograph, 25" x 20" (courtesy of the artist, photo by Rémi Thériault)

Prev

Next

Petonoquot also employs religious iconography in a powerful work, Resilient Repugnance: Baptism Gowns. Four white christening dresses are suspended from a birch branch. The fragile cloth of each dress has been delicately beaded with various symbols, including crosses. As part of this work, Petonoquot buried the dresses, which speaks to funerary practices. According to Petonoquot this was not an act of forgetting but of letting go – releasing past hurts. However, the subsequent gesture of unearthing the dresses symbolizes not forgetting. Petonoquot documented this process and a striking photograph, Bury Colonialism I, is displayed beside the dresses.

×

1 of 2

Expand

Jobena Petonoquot, "Colonial Souvenir," 2019

leather, glass seed beads, red acetate, photograph, vintage doll, lace and 3D viewing glasses, installation view (courtesy of the artist, photo by Rémi Thériault)

×

2 of 2

Expand

Jobena Petonoquot, "We all drank tea with the Queen," from left, "Good little Indian," "The Queen’s Tea," "Beaver Pelt," and "Ode to Tom Thomson," 2011

intaglio prints on rag paper, ink and glass beads, 20" x 15" each (Indigenous Art Collection, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, photo by Rémi Thériault)

Prev

Next

While many works are serious, Petonoquot also employs humour. We all drank tea with the Queen, a series of intaglio mixed-media prints, were inspired by problematic representations of Indigeneity that Petonoquot saw in a Montreal souvenir shop. This work essentially reverses the dominant gaze of the Canadian canon by using her Indigenous identity to retell collective histories.   

Petonoquot grew up in Kitigan Zibi First Nation in western Quebec, where she continues to live and work. She graduated from Concordia University in Montreal with a bachelor’s degree in art history and photography. Her practice emphasizes perseverance and pride in her Indigenous identity, as well as the defence of traditional values and teachings. 

Like many Indigenous people, Petonoquot does not know her language. However, beadwork has given her a voice and empowers her to continue her ancestral history of rebellion by using her art as a reminder that Indigenous peoples are still here, still practicing and still beading. ■

Jobena Petonoquot, Rebellion of my Ancestors: Nid Ànike-mishòmisibaneg Od-Àbimìtàgewiniwà, at the Ottawa Art Gallery from March 26 to Aug. 14, 2022.

PS: Worried you missed something? See previous Galleries West stories here or sign up for our free biweekly newsletter.