Guide to Powwow Country: Sakahan: International Indigenous Art - National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

SAKAHAN: INTERNATIONAL INDIGENOUS ART
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
May 17 - Sept. 2, 2013

What is being billed as the largest survey of contemporary Indigenous art organized by a national institution is on display in Ottawa. Sakahan: International Indigenous Art has opened at the National Gallery of Canada. The exhibition features more than 150 artworks from more than 80 Indigenous artists around the world. The collection includes work from artists from 16 countries and six continents. Sakahan: International Indigenous Art is also one of the most ambitious projects undertaken by the National Gallery of Canada. The gallery, which is located on Sussex Drive in the nation’s capital and opened in 1988, has a view of the Canadian parliament buildings. Sakahan means “to light a fire” in the language of the Algonquin people. Some of the works were created specifically for this project. Exhibition officials are hoping to raise the public awareness of many of the participating artists, who have not received widespread exposure in North America. Mary Anne Barkhouse, who is Kwakwaka’wakw and now lives in Minden, Ont., is one of the participating artists who attended a preview for the exhibition. Other artists at the preview included Shigeyuki Kihara, a Simoan who lives in Auckland, New Zealand, Jimena Mendoza, a Mestiza who lives in Mexico City, Yuma Taru who is Atayal and lives in Taiwan, and Ingunn Utsi, who is from Norway and is Sami.  The artwork in Sakahan displays various cultural, political and social issues affecting people everywhere. The exhibition was organized by the National Gallery of Canada. It is sponsored by CN and supported by the RBC Foundation.
For more information, check out www.gallery.ca/sakahan/en/