Indigeneity and Blackness intersect in jewellery, performance, and more, at Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art to September 8
Jewellery, film, dance regalia, and more as local artists explore their multifaceted heritage
Eagle Song in Action, by Willie Lewis. Photo by Aliya Boubard
Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art presents The Sum of All to September 8
THE BILL REID GALLERY of Northwest Coast Art’s newest exhibit, The Sum of All, draws its title from the concept that Black comes from a mixture of diverse pigments.
And so concepts of Indigeneity and Blackness meet through not only visual art in this lively look at intersectionality. There is also film, dance regalia, jewellery, and poetry, all guest-curated by Damara Jacobs-Petersen, who traces her heritage to Squamish, Snuneymuxw, and African American roots. A big part of her museum work revolves around Indigenous youth engagement (as director of the Native Youth Program at UBC Museum of Anthropology) and this show crackles with young energy, too.
Like Jacobs-Petersen, the featured artists all represent multiple cultural groups. Fittingly, the exhibit aims to capture the spirit of Nch’ú7mut—the Squamish-language term for “interconnectivity and oneness”.
Check out the beaded, artfully culture-fusing earrings of Modeste “Monday” Zankpe (of Secwépemc, Es’ket + Ewe, and Togo ancestry), who is also a member of the Indigenous-burlesque troupe Virago Nation.
The exhibition also features the artwork of Amai Campbell-Kamangirira (Musqueam, Zimbabwean), Marion Jacobs (Squamish, Snuneymuxw, Bahamian), an actor-director-writer; Willie Lewis (of Squamish and African American ancestry), a cultural performer who is part of Spakwus Slolem (the Eagle Song Dancers); and Orene Askew, better known as DJ O Show (Squamish, African American). 
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