GUEST CURATED BY RHÉANNE CHARTRAND

MARCH 28 – JUNE 16, 2019

Opening Reception: March 28th, 6pm

NEED A RIDE? Get on the FREE shuttle bus from Artscape Youngplace (180 Shaw Street, Toronto) departing at 6 PM.
Bus leaves the AGM at 8:30 PM for return trip to Toronto

Featuring works by: Joi T. Arcand, Shuvinai Ashoona, Catherine Blackburn, Aylan Couchie, Ruth Cuthand, Thirza Cuthand, Dayna Danger, Raven Davis, Bonnie Devine, Maria Hupfield, Nadya Kwandibens, Amy Malbeuf, Jane Ash Poitras, Ningiukulu Teevee, and Arielle Twist.

niigaanikwewag brings together notable works by senior, mid-career, and emerging female Indigenous artists to celebrate past, present, and future generations of kwes as integral to sustaining the creative spirit of Indigenous communities.

niigaanikwewag declares that Indigenous womxn have always been present, nurturing art, culture, family, and community in immeasurable ways. Foregrounding kinship, the artworks in niigaanikwewag embody and express the blood ties Indigenous womxn have to each other and to [our] Mother Earth, and call attention to how we endeavor to protect and to hold up each other, in sisterhood.

The exhibition title, niigaanikwewag, which means “leader women” or “they who lead / ahead / in the future” (feminine, plural) in Anishinaabemowin, both acknowledges and positions the female artists included in this curatorial project as leaders within Indigenous art.

A two-part curatorial project, niigaanikwewag pays respect to the non-binary feminine creative spirit that births Indigenous futurities in provocative and meaningful ways.

niigaanikwewag is generously supported by the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario, Curatorial Projects: Indigenous and Culturally Diverse Program.

The Art Gallery of Mississauga is a guest upon the Treaty Lands and Territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit. This ancient land is part of the Treaty Lands and Territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit and the traditional homelands of the Anishinaabe, Wendat, and Haudenosaunee nations.