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28 June 2019 – 11 August 2019

Surrounded: Skeena Reece

  • Skeena Reece

    Artist

    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), a collaborative work with Lisa Jackson, 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

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  • Lorna Brown

    Curator

    Lorna Brown is Acting Director/Curator at the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, University of British Columbia and a visual artist, writer, educator and editor, exhibiting her work internationally since 1984. Brown was the Director/Curator of Artspeak Gallery from 1999 to 2004 and is a founding member of Other Sights for Artists’ Projects, a collective of artists, architects and curators presenting projects that consider the varying conditions of public places and public life. She has taught at Emily Carr University of Art and Design and Simon Fraser University. Brown received an honorary degree from Emily Carr University of Art and Design (2015), the Vancouver Institute for the Visual Arts Award (1996) and the Canada Council Paris Studio Award (2000). Her work is in the collections of the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, the National Gallery of Canada, the BC Arts Council, the Surrey Art Gallery and the Canada Council Art Bank.

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Opening reception: Thursday, June 27 from 6 to 9 pm
Performance by Skeena Reece: Thursday, June 27 at 6:30 pm
Tours: July 2 to August 11, information here.

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.

As Reece describes it, “The bag is a place to rest for a moment, evoking a feeling of longing, not a feeling of loss. Being wrapped gives a calming feeling that elicits hope for the future, and is a way to hold people up.” The artwork began as a performance for The Fraud That Goes Under the Name of Love, a group exhibition at the SFU Audain Gallery in Vancouver in 2016. It was later performed at the Musée d’art contemporain in Montreal for the group show Piriti: Scène contemporaine autochtonein 2017. The piece evolved into an installation for Oboro, Montreal (2017) and Plug In ICA, Winnipeg (2018) respectively.

In May 2019, the Belkin was happy to support Reece’s idea to spend time with the people she invited to be wrapped, working with photographer Rachel Topham and videographer Peter Hagge to produce the photo series The Medicine Bag: Your Body (2019). Video documentation of the wrapping process, new video works Hold Me (2018), Hold This (2018) and Vignettes (2018) will be shown alongside Touch Me (2013).

Image (above): Skeena Reece, Hold Me (production still), 2018. Photo: Ian Barbour.

 

 

Left to right: Skeena Reece, The Medicine Bag: Your Body, 2019, 12 inkjet prints. Collection of the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Gift of the Artist; Skeena Reece, The Time it Takes, 2017, cradleboard, moss bag and moss. Collection of the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery. Purchased with support from the Canada Council for the Arts and Morris and Helen Belkin Foundation.
Photo: Rachel Topham Photography

Left to right: Skeena Reece, The Time it Takes, 2017, cradleboard, moss bag and moss. Collection of the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery. Purchased with support from the Canada Council for the Arts and Morris and Helen Belkin Foundation; Skeena Reece, The Medicine Bag: Your Body, 2019, 12 inkjet prints. Collection of the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Gift of the Artist.
Photo: Rachel Topham Photography

Skeena Reece, The Time it Takes, 2017, cradleboard, moss bag and moss, Collection of the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Purchased with support from the Canada Council for the Arts and Morris and Helen Belkin Foundation.
Photo: Rachel Topham Photography

Skeena Reece, Touch Me, 2013, video. Collection of the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery. Purchased with support from the members of the Belkin Curator’s Forum.
Photo: Rachel Topham Photography

Left to right: Skeena Reece, Touch Me, 2013, video.Collection of the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery. Purchased with support from the members of the Belkin Curator’s Forum; Skeena Reece in collaboration with Sandra Semchuk, Master Gesture, 16mm film transferred to video. Courtesy of the artist.
Photo: Rachel Topham Photography

Left to right: Skeena Reece in collaboration with Sandra Semchuk, Master Gesture, 16mm film transferred to video. Courtesy of the artist; Skeena Reece, Hold Me, 2018, 16 mm film transferred to video. Courtesy of the artist.
Photo: Rachel Topham Photography

Skeena Reece, Hold Me, 2018, 16mm film transferred to video. Courtesy of the artist.
Photo: Rachel Topham Photography

Skeena Reece, I’m Telling You, from We Still Know series, 2010, digital photograph on vinyl. Courtesy of the artist.
Photo: Rachel Topham Photography

Skeena Reece, Documentation of The Medicine Bag: Your Body, 2019, video. Courtesy of the artist.
Photo: Rachel Topham Photography

Skeena Reece, War Bear Helmet, 2008, sticker. Courtesy of the artist.
Photo: Rachel Topham Photography

Skeena Reece, Hold This, 2018, 16mm film transferred to video. Courtesy of the artist.
Photo: Rachel Topham Photography

Skeena Reece performing I Still Know, with the artist’s mother, Cleo Reece, as part of Surrounded: Skeena Reece, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, June 27, 2019.
Photo: Rachel Topham Photography

Skeena Reece performing I Still Know, with the artist’s mother, Cleo Reece, as part of Surrounded: Skeena Reece, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, June 27, 2019.
Photo: Rachel Topham Photography

Skeena Reece performing I Still Know, with the artist’s mother, Cleo Reece, as part of Surrounded: Skeena Reece, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, June 27, 2019.
Photo: Rachel Topham Photography

Skeena Reece performing I Still Know, with the artist’s mother, Cleo Reece, as part of Surrounded: Skeena Reece, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, June 27, 2019.
Photo: Rachel Topham Photography

Skeena Reece performing I Still Know, with the artist’s mother, Cleo Reece, as part of Surrounded: Skeena Reece, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, June 27, 2019.
Photo: Rachel Topham Photography

Skeena Reece performing I Still Know, with the artist’s mother, Cleo Reece, as part of Surrounded: Skeena Reece, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, June 27, 2019.
Photo: Rachel Topham Photography

Skeena Reece performing I Still Know, with the artist’s mother, Cleo Reece, as part of Surrounded: Skeena Reece, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, June 27, 2019.
Photo: Rachel Topham Photography

Skeena Reece performing I Still Know, with the artist’s mother, Cleo Reece, as part of Surrounded: Skeena Reece, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, June 27, 2019.
Photo: Rachel Topham Photography

Skeena Reece performing I Still Know, with the artist’s mother, Cleo Reece, as part of Surrounded: Skeena Reece, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, June 27, 2019.
Photo: Rachel Topham Photography

Skeena Reece performing I Still Know, with the artist’s mother, Cleo Reece, as part of Surrounded: Skeena Reece, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, June 27, 2019.
Photo: Rachel Topham Photography

Skeena Reece performing I Still Know, with the artist’s mother, Cleo Reece, as part of Surrounded: Skeena Reece, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, June 27, 2019.
Photo: Rachel Topham Photography

  • Skeena Reece

    Artist

    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), a collaborative work with Lisa Jackson, 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

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  • Lorna Brown

    Curator

    Lorna Brown is Acting Director/Curator at the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, University of British Columbia and a visual artist, writer, educator and editor, exhibiting her work internationally since 1984. Brown was the Director/Curator of Artspeak Gallery from 1999 to 2004 and is a founding member of Other Sights for Artists’ Projects, a collective of artists, architects and curators presenting projects that consider the varying conditions of public places and public life. She has taught at Emily Carr University of Art and Design and Simon Fraser University. Brown received an honorary degree from Emily Carr University of Art and Design (2015), the Vancouver Institute for the Visual Arts Award (1996) and the Canada Council Paris Studio Award (2000). Her work is in the collections of the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, the National Gallery of Canada, the BC Arts Council, the Surrey Art Gallery and the Canada Council Art Bank.

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Funders

Surrounded: Skeena Reece is made possible with the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council. We gratefully acknowledge the Morris and Helen Belkin Foundation, our Belkin Curator’s Forum members, and our individual donors who financially support our acquisitions and donate artworks to the collection. Special thanks to the UBC Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory for their support of this project.

Related

  • Tour

    2 July-11 August 2019 from 12:30-4 pm

    Tours: Surrounded: Skeena Reece

    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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  • Tour

    Fri 19 July 2019, 10:30-11:30 am

    Fri 19 July 2019, 1:30-2:30 pm

    Sat 20 July 2019, 1-2 pm

    Artist Tour: Surrounded with Skeena Reece

    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.

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