Yukon Prize
Strong Indigenous thread runs through work by finalists at the new award's inaugural exhibition.
Joseph Tisiga, “Dream Catcher,” 2020
wall tent canvas, pastel and oil stick, 16′ x 16′ (courtesy Yukon Arts Centre; photo by Mike Thomas)
Invisible lasers stretch across the gallery at the Yukon Arts Centre in Whitehorse, confining Ken Anderson’s errant robot vacuum. Part of his piece, What we had what we have what we take what we are given where we are where we are going who we were who we are who we will be what we have lost and what we have found thanks no thanks; gunalthcheesh da ki en caw, the vacuum whirs sluggishly through its corner of the space carrying an intricately carved Tlingit ceremonial bowl filled with tiny seed beads. High above, a birch and abalone killer whale mask, with seven generations intricately represented in the tiny fish heads carved up its sides, overlooks the shenanigans.
Anderson, a Tlingit and Scandinavian artist whose work is rooted in a precision and respect learned from his Indigenous grandmother, is one of six Yukon artists selected from more than 100 applicants as a finalist for the inaugural Yukon Prize.
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Ken Anderson, “What we had what we have what we take what we are given where we are where we are going who we were who we are who we will be what we have lost and what we have found thanks no thanks; gunalthcheesh da ki en caw,” 2021
birch, steel, abalone, beads and automated cleaning technician, installation view (courtesy Yukon Arts Centre; photo by Mike Thomas)
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Ken Anderson, “What we had what we have what we take what we are given where we are where we are going who we were who we are who we will be what we have lost and what we have found thanks no thanks; gunalthcheesh da ki en caw,” 2021
birch, steel, abalone, beads and automated cleaning technician, installation view (courtesy Yukon Arts Centre; photo by Mike Thomas)
“This public gallery show allowed me to step outside the traditional context and invite people in,” says Anderson, who watched his vacuum persistently bump into the feet of giggling children at the opening. “We live from one highlight or event to the next, but that vacuum is always there in the space in-between, and that is where I live as an artist.” The piece highlights the space between the sacred and the everyday, he says, and the roles we take on within a system created by those who hand out the beads.
The Yukon Prize – a new biennial award created by a Whitehorse couple, Julie Jai and David Trick, to promote local visual arts – will provide $20,000 to one of six finalists selected by a three-member jury – Ryan Doherty, chief curator of Contemporary Calgary, independent curator Candice Hopkins, and Gaetane Verna, director of the Power Plant in Toronto. The jury is travelling north in November for the gala award ceremony. Other finalists will each receive $2,000. Jai says the money offers the winner time to work on their art “because the average income of artists is so low.” She also hopes the prize will help connect Yukon artists with the larger art world.
Veronica Verkley, “Suspended Animation,” 2021
armature of steel, polyethylene and hardware; bulk made with scavenged rubber, wire and plastic; rigging with rope, pulleys and hardware, installation view (courtesy Yukon Arts Centre; photo by Mike Thomas)
The first Yukon Prize features an all-star cast, including sculptor and media artist Veronica Verkley, who has exhibited internationally. At the opening, her colossal 700-pound horse, made of steel, polyethylene, scavenged rubber, wire and plastic, was lifted into its title, Suspended Animation, by 10 volunteer viewers heaving ropes attached to pulleys. As this massive, anatomically ideal animal slowly rose to its feet, the sheer size and animate movements gave it a spontaneous and emotional rendering.
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Joseph Tisiga, “Untitled Series” (installation of nine artworks), 2020
artificial grass, plaster and watercolour, 6′ x 6′ (courtesy Yukon Arts Centre; photo by Mike Thomas)
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Amy Ball, “To Kill a Chicken,” 2018
looped projection (courtesy Yukon Arts Centre; photo by Mike Thomas)
In the next room, Sobey award-winning Kaska Dena artist Joseph Tisiga’s attestations – written in plaster cigarette butts pasted onto AstroTurf – prod viewers with: “The significance of forever is inconceivable,” “Land back,” and “Ancestral disdain.” Nearby, Amy Ball’s white tile bench, reminiscent of a public swimming pool, gapes open at the back to reveal stacks of non-perishable food, including Spam and canned tomatoes. In the background, two Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighters spar in her video installation, To Kill A Chicken.
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Sho Sho “Belelige” Esquiro, “Day of the Dead,” 2013
Pendleton blanket, recycled woven prayer scarves, cowhide leather, rayon, moose hair, seal skin and glass cut beads, 20′′ x 26′′ (courtesy Yukon Arts Centre; photo by Mike Thomas)
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Krystle Silverfox, “All that Glitters is Not Gold...,” 2019-21
HBC blanket, copper pennies, wool and spruce, installation view (courtesy Yukon Arts Centre; photo by Mike Thomas)
It’s a hodgepodge exhibition with no particular curatorial theme, although a heavy Indigenous thread runs through much of the work, including haute couture fur, bead and Day-of-the Dead designer jackets by Sho Sho Esquiro, a textile artist of Kaska Dena, Cree and Scottish heritage, and a partially unravelled Hudson's Bay blanket, its splayed threads held taut across the floor by copper pennies, by Selkirk First Nation artist Krystle Silverfox.
Anderson recalls visiting the National Gallery of Canada, and noticing much of its Indigenous art was relegated to particular rooms. “It seemed so proper, with most of the work up on walls, almost like a church – don’t touch it,” he says. “But if you’re in a place ready to push these boundaries, then the Yukon Prize is an invitation to do that.” ■
The Yukon Prize exhibition is on view at the Yukon Arts Centre in Whitehorse from Sept. 18 to Nov. 20, 2021. The finalists are Ken Anderson, Amy Ball, Joseph Tisiga, Krystle Silverfox, Sho Sho Esquiro and Veronica Verkley.
UPDATE Nov. 23, 2021: Joseph Tisiga has won the inaugural Yukon Prize.
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Yukon Arts Centre Public Art Gallery
300 College Dr (PO Box 16), Whitehorse, Yukon Y1A 5X9
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