Join leading UBC scholars, artists, curators and critics in a series of midday conversations. We invite two prominent, disciplinarily distinct voices into the Gallery to discuss productive intersections of their own work and the current exhibition, followed by a discussion that includes the audience. In this series, guests will address Lalakenis/All Directions: A Journey of Truth and Unity, an exhibition that remembers Kwakwaka’wakw carver Beau Dick’s 2014 journey from UBC to Ottawa, which culminated in a ceremonial copper-breaking on the steps of Parliament Hill.

Once again, we are pleased to welcome the UBC Contemporary Players to the Belkin Art Gallery for a concert inspired by the exhibition Lalakenis/All Directions: A Journey of Truth and Unity. Led by Directors Corey Hamm and Paolo Bortolussi with support from Aaron Graham, this graduate and undergraduate student ensemble from the UBC School of Music will animate the Gallery for an afternoon program celebrating themes from the exhibition. And on TUESDAY, APRIL 12 at 2:30 pm, please join us for a once-in-a-lifetime performance of Alexander Scriabin’s Complete Piano Sonatas, Nos. 1-10 performed by piano students of Corey Hamm.

Join us at Macaulay & Co. Fine Art to celebrate the publication of Lalakenis/All Directions: A Journey of Truth and Unity. Edited by Scott Watson and Lorna Brown, this richly illustrated hardcover book includes essays by Beau Dick, Chief Robert Joseph, Guujaaw, Gyauustees, Linnea Dick, Wanda Nanibush, Charlotte Townsend-Gault, Tarah Hogue and Shelly Rosenblum. The catalogue offers visual documentation of the belongings that were gathered together and displayed in the Gallery during the Lalakenis exhibition, along with images from the two journeys that culminated in copper-breaking ceremonies: Awalaskenis I (February 2013) beginning in Quatsino and ending in Victoria, BC and Awalaskenis II (July 2014) which saw Beau Dick and 21 companions setting out from UBC for Ottawa. The copper-breaking ceremonies marked ruptured relationships in need of repair, and passed the burden of wrongs done to First Nations people from them to the Governments of BC and Canada, reviving a shaming rite that once was central to a complex economic system and symbol of justice, a traditional practice that had all but disappeared. This publication reprints content from the exhibition guide in which Beau comments on the significance and role of coppers and the motivating factors for the journeys; Guujaaw speaks of the Taaw copper he made to be broken in Ottawa; Linnea Dick reflects on instigating, along with her sister Geraldine, the earlier journey from Quatsino to Victoria; and Gyauustees speaks about the ceremonies he conducts as a pipe carrier. Added to these texts are new essays by Wanda Nanibush, Charlotte Townsend-Gault, Tarah Hogue and Shelly Rosenblum. Beau Dick and exhibition co-curators and editors Scott Watson and Lorna Brown will be in attendance. Special launch pricing will be in effect.