On Wednesday, October 16, an eager crowd gathered at Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery for the launch of the catalogue Ursula Johnson: Mi’kwite’tmn (Do You Remember).
First presented at Saint Mary’s in 2014, it toured Canada from 2014 to 2018. Mi’kwite’tmn examines ideas of ancestry, identity and cultural practice. Johnson deconstructs and manipulates the function and image of Mi’kmaw basketry, using traditional techniques to build non-functional forms.
The catalogue includes essays and interviews about the work. It is a trilingual publication – with texts provided in Mi’kmaw, French and English.
The launch included a ceremonial welcome and a discussion between Diane Mitchell (Mi'kmaw translator), artist Ursula Johnson and Director/Curator Robin Metcalfe on the intricacies and challenges of translating text into Mi'kmaw.
The Saint Mary’s University Art gallery has been a leader in working with contemporary Indigenous artists and curators. Over the past decade, it has presented five major Indigenous exhibitions.
Ursula Johnson is a performance and installation artist of Mi’kmaw First Nation ancestry. She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally since graduating from the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design with a BFA in Interdisciplinary studies in 2006.
Her performances are often place-based and employ cooperative didactic intervention. Recent works include various mediums of sculpture that create consideration from her audience about aspects of intangible cultural heritage as it pertains to the consumption of traditional knowledge within the context of colonial institutions. Johnson has been shortlisted for the Salt Spring National Art Prize and the Nova Scotia Masterworks Award. In 2017, she was the first Indigenous artist from Atlantic Canada to be honoured with the Sobey Art Award, the pre-eminent prize for young Canadian artists.