The Aunties That Do explores personal and familial narratives with a consideration of Indigenous artistic processes. Michelle Sound's works explore cultural identities and histories by engaging materials and concepts within a contemporary context. Through utilizing such practices as drum making, caribou hair tufting, beadwork, and photography, her work highlights that acts of care and joy are situated in family and community. They work with traditional and contemporary materials and techniques to explore maternal labour, identity, cultural knowledge, and cultural inheritances. This exhibition is composed of four bodies of work: 

Holding It Together uses archival images that contain loss, grief, longing and memory. The ripped images exhibit the colonial violence that Sound’s family, and other Indigenous families, have experienced including residential school intergenerational trauma, loss of language, and displacement from territories. These losses can never be fully healed but these histories and realities can be processed through art, culture and stories. The materials of these large 4x3’ artworks include paper, beadwork, embroidery thread, porcupine quills and caribou tufting.

Nimama hates fish but worked in the cannery is informed by Sound’s mother who is Cree from Kinuso, in northern Alberta and a member of Wapsewsipi (Swan River) First Nation. Her parents became enfranchised in the forties so their children would not be forced to attend residential school as they did. They no longer lived on their reserve and moved around Alberta looking for work. Her mom moved out to BC in the seventies, before Sound was born, for better employment opportunities. She worked in the Richmond cannery, even though she hated fish, as it was a necessity for her family’s survival. Their family has had to navigate a transition into new roles as guests on this territory. They live with a sense of displacement and loss of their community and language. Sound was the first of her family born on the west coast and now raises her son in the traditional, unceded territory of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. As Sound explains, “this piece explores how we relate to the land we live on and also acknowledges our presence as visitors”. Nimama hates fish but worked in the cannery consists of three works, each 2.5x4’, digital print on cloth vinyl.

80’s Brat is a series of drums that pay homage to the Aunties, a community of caretakers. As Sound explains, “our aunties are also our mothers, who take care of us, our 'cool' moms”. More often than not, the aunties are our first style icons, the loud aunties with the big laugh, who take us to the mall. This drum series is a tribute to their classic auntie style. Dimensions of this series vary, ranging from 8” - 22” in size.

HBC Trapline references the fur trade when beaver pelts were traded for one Hudson Bay Co. four-point blanket. These HBC blankets started to replace traditional blankets that were sewn together from rabbit furs. Indigenous women were vital to the fur trade and the preparation of furs. The four HBC colours of Blue, Yellow, Red, and Green acknowledge the ancestors who worked in the fur trade and the importance of the blanket and women's labour to the fur trade.

The Aunties That Do will be on view from May 19th - July 1st, 2023. Sound is also an artist in residence for this year’s Indigenous Art Intensive at the University Of British Columbia Okanagan. Learn more about the Intensive here.

“In collaboration with the Kelowna Métis Association , the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art invites you to join us for an evening of beading and crafting.

On June 28th, from 6-8 pm, we will be hosting a Beading Circle in our Main Gallery space. Participants can enjoy working on beading projects while surrounded by the work of Cree and Métis artist Michelle Sound.

This event is free to attend and open to anyone. Participants are encouraged to bring their own beading project. However, supplies will be available for first-time beaders to create a beaded pin. Folks of all skill levels are welcome.

Please RSVP by visiting https://www.alternatorcentre.com/events/beading-circle

Michelle Sound is a Cree and Métis artist, educator and mother. She is a member of Wapsewsipi/Swan River First Nation in Northern Alberta, her maternal side is Cree and her paternal side is Métis from central Alberta. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Simon Fraser University, School for the Contemporary Arts, and a Master of Applied Arts from Emily Carr University Art + Design. Michelle is a 2021 Salt Spring National Art Award Finalist and has had recent exhibitions at Daphne Art Centre (Montréal), Neutral Ground ARC (Regina) and grunt gallery(Vancouver).

Learn more about Sound and her work, here.

Gabrielle Desrosiers' practice navigates between performance and installation where she brings together mediums such as photography, sculpture, video and found objects. She approaches installation in a scenographic manner and is interested in the notion of reconfiguration of the panorama. Desrosiers reflects on how the manipulation of the image and the object contributes to the idea of simulation and control of a narrative. This relationship of transformation and deformation is expressed in a vision of the collective landscape as well as in a personal and intrinsic perspective. Tinged with humor, Desrosiers' work is colorful and explores the theme of legacy and the concept of self-construction highlighted in her work through collage and the assemblage of various materials. 

But What Did You Come Here For presented, primarily, 3D collages (micro-installations in model format) and a new series of sculptures in the form of assemblages where fragments of objects and materials collected by the artist are grouped together. In this exhibition, Desrosiers had invested herself in the creation of "false artifacts for the future". This research was inspired by a personal story experienced in 2013 during a trip to Italy. During a walk in the woods in the hills around Florence, she came across fake Greco-Roman ruins. These had been intentionally built by a landowner to showcase their estate and wealth, as simulated ruins made people look good at the time. If the disparity of this architecture had not been explained to her, she would have believed in this illusion, in a different history and chronology. 

In her assemblages, Desrosiers explored the artefact-object as a symbol of ruin, of a physical entity or of a bygone era. She also observed the rock as a metamorphosed material of the landscape where elements are accumulated, modified, or destroyed either by nature or human intervention. To simulate a process of sedimentation, the fragments collected by the artist are magnified and grouped together with the help of materials serving as a binder. This gesture of accumulation tends to create a new identity, to multiply the referents and the idea of decoy. Desrosiers questioned the reading of these objects. Are they imbued with a new character or rather with a form of erasure through addition? Are they tainted by our time or an illusion of it?

But What Did You Come Here For was on view in the Main Gallery from March 24 - May 6, 2023.

Born in Quebec City in 1986, Gabrielle Desrosiers currently resides in Magdalen Islands. She holds a diploma in scenography from Saint-Hyacinthe Theatre School (2007), a BFA from Concordia University in Montreal (2018) and from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem (2017). She is a recipient of the Irene F. Whittome Prize in Visual Arts (2018) as well as the Prix Relève from the Conseil de la culture de l'Abitibi-Témiscamingue (2020).

Her work has been presented in Montreal at Skol (2016), at Circa (2018), at Fonderie Darling as part of RIPA (2019) as well as elsewhere in Quebec province such as the Performance Art Festival of Trois-Rivières (2019), at l'Écart in Rouyn-Noranda (2020), at Espace F in Matane (2020), at the Bas-Saint-Laurent Museum in Rivière-du-Loup (2021) as well as at AdMare in Magdalen Islands (2022).

Learn more about Desrosiers’ work on her website.

La pratique de Gabrielle Desrosiers navigue entre la performance et l'installation où elle réunit des médiums tels que la photographie, la sculpture, la vidéo et les objets trouvés. Elle aborde l'installation de manière scénographique et s'intéresse à la notion de reconfiguration du panorama. Desrosiers réfléchit, entre autres, à la façon dont la manipulation de l'image et de l’objet contribue à l'idée de simulation et de contrôle d’un narratif. Ce rapport de transformation et de déformation s’exprime dans une vision du paysage collectif ainsi que dans une perspective personnelle et intrinsèque. Teinté d’humour, le travail de Desrosiers est coloré et explore aussi le thème du legs et le concept d’auto-construction mis en évidence dans ses œuvres par le collage et l’assemblage de divers matériaux. 

Mais qu’est-ce que vous êtes venu faire icitte présente, principalement, des collages 3D (micro-installation en maquette) et une nouvelle série de sculptures sous forme d’assemblages où se regroupent des fragments d’objets et de matériaux récoltés par l’artiste. Dans cette exposition, Desrosiers s’est investie à la création de « faux artéfacts pour le futur ». Cette recherche a été inspiré par un récit personnel vécu en 2013 lors d’un voyage en Italie. Au cours d’une marche en forêt dans les collines autour de Florence, elle se retrouve face à de fausses ruines gréco-romaines. Celles-ci avaient intentionnellement été construites par un propriétaire terrien afin de mettre en valeur son domaine et sa richesse, la simulation de ruines faisant bonne apparence à l’époque. Si la disparité de cette architecture ne lui avait pas été expliquée, elle aurait cru à cette illusion, à une histoire et une chronologie différente. 

Dans ses assemblages, Desrosiers explore l’objet-artéfact tel un symbole de la ruine, d’une entité physique ou d’un temps révolu. Elle observe aussi la roche telle une matière métamorphosable du paysage où les éléments sont accumulés, modifiés ou détruits soit par la nature ou l’intervention humaine. De sorte à simuler un processus de sédimentation, les fragments collectionnés par l’artiste sont magnifiés et regroupés à l’aide de matériaux servant de liant. Ce geste d’accumulation tend à créer une nouvelle identité, à multiplier les référents et l’idée de leurre. Desrosiers questionne ici la lecture de ces objets. Sont-ils empreints d'un nouveau caractère ou plutôt d’une forme d'effacement par l’addition? Sont-ils teintés par notre époque ou une illusion de celle-ci?

Née à Québec en 1986, Gabrielle Desrosiers réside actuellement aux Îles-de-la-Madeleine. Elle est titulaire d'un diplôme en scénographie de l'École de théâtre de Saint-Hyacinthe (2007), d'un baccalauréat en arts visuels de l'Université Concordia à Montréal (2018) et de Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design à Jérusalem (2017). Elle est récipiendaire du prix Irene F. Whittome en arts plastiques (2018) ainsi que du Prix Relève du Conseil de la culture de l'Abitibi-Témiscamingue (2020).

Son travail a été présenté à Montréal, entre autres, au Centre des arts actuels Skol (2016), à Circa art actuel (2018), à la Fonderie Darling dans le cadre de la RIPA – Rencontre interuniversitaire de performance actuelle (2019) ainsi qu'ailleurs au Québec tel au Festival d’art performatif de Trois-Rivières (2019), au centre d'artistes l'Écart à Rouyn-Noranda (2020), à l'Espace F à Matane (2020), au Musée du Bas-Saint-Laurent à Rivière-du-loup (2021) ainsi qu’au centre d’artistes AdMare aux Iles-de-la-Madeleine (2022).