Halifax

Snapshot: East Coast Contemporary Aboriginal Art

7:00pm
Friday July 6 2012 - 7:00pm
Friday August 17 2012

Snapshot: East Coast Contemporary Aboriginal Art is one of the first major exhibitions of contemporary Aboriginal art in Halifax since Re-claiming History opened at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in June 2000. It focuses on contemporary East Coast Aboriginal art and is curated by renowned Mii’kmaq artist Alan Syliboy. Snapshot will showcase recent work of six emerging and mid-career artists: Frannie Fancis, Ursula Johnson, Dozay Christmas, Charles Doucette, Gerald Gloade, and Jerry Evans.

Snapshot is part of a larger exploration of Aboriginal cultural production in the Atlantic region that encompasses film, storytelling, drumming, artist talks and visual art that the Khyber is organising in partnership with the **Mi’kmaq Native Friendship Centre** on Gottingen Street.  This exhibition will facilitate an opportunity to engage with the diversity and distinctiveness of Mi’kmaq and Maliseet art practices and aesthetics as it celebrates the innovation and dynamism of indigenous art in Atlantic Canada.

The curator of the exhibition, Alan Syliboy, is one of the most respected aboriginal artists in Canada.  Syliboy was invited to participate in the cultural Olympiad at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, BC, and more recently, presented a painting to Queen Elizabeth during the Grand Chief Membertou Celebrations in Halifax in June 2010.  His animated short, “Little Thunder”, was screened at the Winter Games and the Giffoni Film Festival in Italy in July 2010.  His art is exhibited locally and internationally, and can be found in numerous private and public collections.  In 2007, he co-curated with Terry Graff, the remarkable Ekpahak exhibition at Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton featuring Mi’kmaq and Maliseet artists from New Brunswick.  He will be exhibiting at Beaverbrook Gallery again in 2013 with the support of a grant from the Canada Council. For the Arts  His latest animation film, Owl Song, will premier at the Khyber during Snapshot.

In addition to his work as visual artist and curator, Alan Syliboy is also a percussionist.  His band, Lone Cloud, named after the Mi’kmaq medicine man and showman Jerry Lonecloud who was part of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in the 19th century, is a reflection of its members’ belief that ‘music is good medicine’.  Lone Cloud’s music is influenced by a range of genres, from rock to jazz. Other band members include vocalist and sax player, Jeff Benetti, vocalist Rachael Henderson, and lead guitarist Evan Syliboy. The band will be performing at the Khyber on opening night.

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