McIntosh Gallery
Western University
London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 3K7
From Sky World to Cyberspace
Skawennati
Curated by Matthew Ryan Smith
March 21 – April 27, 2019
Artist Talk: Tuesday, March 19 at 4:30pm, VAC 100
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 21 at 8pm
In From Sky World to Cyberspace, artist Skawennati (Mohawk, turtle clan) investigates concepts of time and self. Through representations of avatars, most notably her online persona (which she has maintained for over a decade in the virtual world, Second Life), Skawennati engages various mechanisms of gaming and play, interweaving traditional Mohawk stories and ritual objects with new technologies and processes.
Using important Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) philosophies such as the Sky Woman Story of Creation and the Ohen:ton Karihwatehkewn (Thanksgiving Address), Skawennati approaches cyberspace as a metaphor for the future. Drawing on ancestral narratives to chart alternative realities is a key principle of Indigenous Futurism, the movement that reimagines the artistic and social potential of Indigenous peoples in years to come. The works in this exhibition adopt the framework of Indigenous Futurism to perceive the future as being synonymous with possibility.
textiles + materiality research cluster 