Skeena Reece (Tsimshian/Gitksan/Cree, b. 1974) is an artist based on the West Coast of British Columbia. Her installation and performance work has garnered national and international attention, most notably for Raven: On the Colonial Fleet (2010) presented at the 2010 Sydney Biennale as part of the group exhibition Beat Nation. Her multi-disciplinary practice includes performance art, spoken word, humour, “sacred clowning,” writing, singing, songwriting, video and visual art. She studied media arts at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, and was the recipient of the British Columbia Award for Excellence in the Arts (2012), the VIVA Award (2014) and the Hnatyshyn Award (2017). For Savage (2010), Reece won a Genie Award for Best Acting in a Short Film and the film won a Golden Sheaf Award for Best Multicultural Film, ReelWorld Outstanding Canadian Short Film, Leo Awards for Best Actress and Best Editing. Solo exhibitions include Surrounded at the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery (2019); Touch Me at the Comox Valley Art Gallery, Courtenay, BC (2018); Moss at Oboro Gallery, Montréal (2017) and The Sacred Clown & Other Strangers at Urban Shaman Contemporary Aboriginal Art, Winnipeg (2015). Group Exhibitions include Red on Red: Indigeneity, Labour, Value at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver (2022); Women & Masks: An Arts-Based Research Conference at Boston University (2021-22), Interior Infinite at the Polygon Gallery, North Vancouver (2021); Àbadakone at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (2018-2019) and Sweetgrass and Honey at Plug In ICA, Winnipeg (2018), among others.
Join us for a special tour of the exhibition Surrounded: Skeena Reece, guided by the artist, Skeena Reece. Admission is free of charge. Please arrive at least fifteen minutes before the scheduled start of the tour. For more information, please contact Belkin Public Programs at belkin.tours@ubc.ca or (604) 822-5600.
Left and right:
Skeena Reece, The Medicine Bag: Your Body, 2019
inkjet prints
Centre:
Skeena Reece, The Time It Takes, 2017
cradleboard, moss bag and moss
Photo: Rachel Topham Photography
Left:
Skeena Reece, Touch Me, 2013
video, 13m 49s
Right:
Skeena Reece, Master Gesture, 2018
16mm film transferred to video, 10m 16s
Photo: Rachel Topham Photography
Left:
Skeena Reece, Master Gesture, 2018
16mm film transferred to video, 10m 16s
Right:
Skeena Reece, Hold Me, 2018
16mm film transferred to video, 15m
Photo: Rachel Topham Photography
Skeena Reece (Tsimshian/Gitksan/Cree, b. 1974) is an artist based on the West Coast of British Columbia. Her installation and performance work has garnered national and international attention, most notably for Raven: On the Colonial Fleet (2010) presented at the 2010 Sydney Biennale as part of the group exhibition Beat Nation. Her multi-disciplinary practice includes performance art, spoken word, humour, “sacred clowning,” writing, singing, songwriting, video and visual art. She studied media arts at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, and was the recipient of the British Columbia Award for Excellence in the Arts (2012), the VIVA Award (2014) and the Hnatyshyn Award (2017). For Savage (2010), Reece won a Genie Award for Best Acting in a Short Film and the film won a Golden Sheaf Award for Best Multicultural Film, ReelWorld Outstanding Canadian Short Film, Leo Awards for Best Actress and Best Editing. Solo exhibitions include Surrounded at the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery (2019); Touch Me at the Comox Valley Art Gallery, Courtenay, BC (2018); Moss at Oboro Gallery, Montréal (2017) and The Sacred Clown & Other Strangers at Urban Shaman Contemporary Aboriginal Art, Winnipeg (2015). Group Exhibitions include Red on Red: Indigeneity, Labour, Value at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver (2022); Women & Masks: An Arts-Based Research Conference at Boston University (2021-22), Interior Infinite at the Polygon Gallery, North Vancouver (2021); Àbadakone at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (2018-2019) and Sweetgrass and Honey at Plug In ICA, Winnipeg (2018), among others.
Last year, the Belkin Art Gallery was delighted to acquire The Time It Takes (2017), the adult-sized cradleboard artwork by Skeena Reece, for our permanent collection. At that time, Reece said that she had always wanted to work with the cradleboard to create a series of photographs that would document her wrapping specific people in the moss bag. This spring, the Belkin Art Gallery will support Reece’s idea to spend time with the people she invites to be wrapped, and will work with Rachel Topham to document the process. The Time It Takes, along with the photographs and video documentation, will be installed in the Gallery to form the foundation of an exhibition.
[more]Tours and discussions of Surrounded: Skeena Reece can be arranged from Tuesday to Friday for groups and classes, lasting 50 minutes and longer. For more information, please contact Belkin Public Programs by email at belkin.tours@ubc.ca or by phone at (604) 822-5600. Drop-in tours are available on Saturday and Sunday between 12:30 and 4 pm. Drop-in tours are casual and conversational, lasting about 15-30 minutes. These can be arranged the day-of at the Reception Desk.
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