Artists Chosen for Indigenous Placemaking
The Calgary Public Library says six Indigenous artists — all from or with a connection to Treaty 7 territory — will create installations for the city's new central library, which opens Nov. 1.
Keegan Starlight, Kalum Teke Dan and Roland Rollinmud will collaborate on mural in the new library’s main entrance.
Stairs leading to the mezzanine level will feature Lionel Peyachew's life-size buffalo sculpture with metal letters that spell words in Indigenous languages.
The Elders’ Guidance Circle, a comfortable space that features Indigenous programming, will feature a table and other furniture by Glenna Cardinal as well as a large photo-and-text piece by Brittney Bear Hat that explores history through storytelling.
Shereen Samuels, vice chair of the library board, says public libraries are about more than just providing access to books.
"It’s about creating public gathering spaces where people can connect with one another and share ideas, knowledge, stories and culture," she says.
"Indigenous placemaking ... will create a welcoming environment where Indigenous people can feel their culture reflected in an urban setting, and where all library visitors can learn about the original inhabitants of the land that we also call Calgary."
The library is located in the community of East Village near Fort Calgary, where the Bow and Elbow Rivers meet and where Indigenous people gathered for thousands of years.
The installations are part of a $500,000 Indigenous place-making project funded by the Calgary Public Library Foundation. More announcements on art projects are expected next year.
Source: Calgary Public Library
