Indigenous Languages Given Permanent Home at WAG-Qaumajuq

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WAG-Qaumajuq

The Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG)-Qaumajuq’s Indigenous Language Sovereignty: Article 13 Experience is now open to the public. 

Newly installed plaques highlight names given to each space, giving Indigenous languages a permanent home within the gallery.

By taking a new self-guided 16-stop gallery tour, visitors can hear directly from the gallery’s Language Keepers and Language Learners about each name. “Tour stops display the names, their language, phonetic pronunciations, and an artwork of the person behind the name created by artist Gayle Uyagaqi Kabloona,” according to a news release. 

“The languages featured include Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, Inuttitut, Anishinaabemowin, Nêhiyawêwin, Dakota, Anishininimowin, Michif and Dene. Inuit and Inuvialuit names from each dialect of Inuktitut are included, and names from all languages of Indigenous Nations in Manitoba.”

“To create a permanent place for Indigenous languages to be seen, heard, learned and used daily is important,” said Julia Lafreniere, WAG-Qaumajuq Head of Indigenous Ways and Learning, in the news release. 

“To incorporate Indigenous language and knowledge into a white colonial institution and share Indigenous ways of knowing with all who walk through these buildings, is a small step in the revitalization of these languages. I am grateful to the Language Keepers, Elders and Language Learners who gave their time and knowledge to this project and gifted these names to the Gallery.”

A virtual tour platform, created by Dene artist Casey Koyczan, was launched in June 2023. 

The project has been supported by Prairies Economic Development Canada.

Source: Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG)-Qaumajuq

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