Emily Carr University of Art + Design is pleased to present this year’s Emily Award to celebrated contemporary visual artist Nadia Myre, who graduated from ECU in 1997.
The annual Emily Award Program recognizes the outstanding achievements of alum community members whose creative pursuits in the arts, media and design have brought recognition to the university.
Nadia Myre (born 1974) is a contemporary visual artist from Montreal, Quebec and an Algonquin member of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation who lives and works in Montreal. For over a decade, her multi-disciplinary practice has been inspired by participant involvement as well as recurring themes of identity, language, and longing and loss.
Canadian Art Magazine writes of the artist, “Nadia Myre’s work weaves together complex histories of Aboriginal identity, nationhood, memory and handicraft, using beadwork techniques to craft exquisite and laborious works.” Through her body of work, Myre is interested in having conversations about collective identity, resilience and the politics of belonging. She graduated from Camosun College (1995) and Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver (1997) and holds a master’s degree in visual arts from Concordia University (2002). Myre has an extensive exhibition history, with over 115 shows—25 of which have been solos—just in the last ten years. Her work can be found in the National Gallery of Canada, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, National Museum of Fine Arts of Quebec, the Canadian Museum of History and the Canadian Embassies of New York, London, Paris and Greece.
Myre is a recipient of numerous awards, notably Compagne des arts et des lettres du Québec (2019), Banff Centre for Arts Walter Phillips Gallery Indigenous Commission Award (2016), Sobey Art Award (2014), Pratt & Whitney Canada’s ‘Les Elles de l’art’ for the Conseil des arts de Montréal (2011), Quebec Arts Council’s Prix à la création artistique pour la region des Laurentides (2009), and a Fellowship from the Eiteljorg Museum (2003). In 2023 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
A pair of films by the artist, ECU staff member, and alum will screen during the renowned exhibition at one of the international art-world’s premier institutions.
A pair of short films by artist and ECU staff member Sydney Frances Pascal (MFA 2023) have been selected to show at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, NY.
Titled distance and n̓áskan nwálhen ninskúz7a (i am going to meet my daughter), the films trace the intergenerational struggle to reconnect undertaken by Sydney’s family.
Having attended an opening for the artists and curators, Sydney says it felt “wild” to meet renowned Indigenous artists as well as art-world luminaries like curator Meg Onli and Whitney director Scott Rothkopf.
“They were all super friendly and sweet,” she says. “They said, ‘You’re Whitney family, we want you to come back. We’re so excited you’re here with us.’ I was just kind of in awe. All I could think of were artists I studied who’ve shown at the Whitney — the Rebecca Belmores of the world. It was a little surreal and kind of strange to think that I was there, too.”
Both films, which were created during Sydney’s studies in the MFA program at Emily Carr, air on May 3 as part of Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than the Real Thing. They are included among works by by Samí, Mongolian, Mapuche, Inuk and Native American artists in a film program titled The Land Wants You, organized by guest curator asinnajaq. Sydney will also participate in a conversation following the screening along with asinnajaq, Samí photographer and director Carl-Johan Utsi, and fellow biennial artists Kite and Lada Suomenrinne.
Still frames from Sydney Frances Pascal’s 2022 film, distance. (Images courtesy Sydney Frances Pascal)
Sydney’s family was one of many shattered by the Sixties Scoop. Her mother was separated from her extended family for most of her life. Sydney, a member of the Lil’wat Nation, was born on Vancouver Island and grew up in Alberta. It was only as an adult that she reconnected with her Lil ̓wat7úl community and came to understand her family’s story of displacement.
distance, made in 2022, imagines a search conducted by Sydney’s grandmother whose daughter — Sydney’s mother — was taken without her consent by child welfare authorities in the 1960s. Filmed on Wreck Beach on Musqueam territory, the camera peers quietly into fog-shrouded forests and then out to sea. Sydney, fully clothed, eventually enters the water to swim and then float, a tiny speck on a vast grey ocean.
n̓áskan nwálhen ninskúz7a (i am going to meet my daughter), made in 2023, draws on archival audio from a 1990s BCTV news feature capturing the reunion between Sydney’s grandmother and her adult daughter. The archival audio is complemented by a voiceover from Sydney, recorded at Lillooet Lake, on Lil’wat territory, as well as a Lil’wat song that plays at the end.
“I was thinking through her perspective about what it’s like to be able to go home, and what it means to be able to have that connection to home because of her,” Sydney says.
One of the voice clips is drawn from the naming ceremony that took place on the first day Sydney’s mother and grandmother met in person.
“My grandma says, ‘I still want to hang onto the ties of our history, and I know it may stop at Maria, but it was important I gave her a name.’” But it didn’t stop with my mother, and now me and my brothers are here and we’re doing well. I’m trying to learn the language and other traditions, and I hope she’s happy.”
Still frames from Sydney Frances Pascal’s 2023 film, n̓áskan nwálhen ninskúz7a (i am going to meet my daughter). (Images courtesy Sydney Frances Pascal)
Her grandmother, a longtime land defender and Indigenous rights advocate, is now deceased. Her story is emblematic of the colonial history that continues to shape lives across the country. And Sydney notes this is still living history. She herself is part of the first generation in her family to have not been taken from their parents — a fact she calls “inconceivable,” for all its real and lasting impacts.
Threading the needle between her characteristic humility and resoluteness, Sydney notes that taking on the work of speaking for an entire nation’s history is no longer her — or her family’s — burden to bear.
“Art is for everyone to look at or consume, but I only really make it for my family’s approval and for my community,” she says. “I’m doing it for me and my mom, my family, to feel better and to move through something we didn’t really know how to get past. As long as they’re happy, I feel like I’m doing it in a good way. I really don’t care what anyone else thinks.”
Though she adds that “to have my grandmother’s voice travel to different parts of the world, echoing out there is amazing.”
The Aboriginal Gathering Place’s Annual Exhibition will be on view from February 1-15 in the Michael O’Brian Exhibition Commons on the second floor of ECU. This year’s exhibition, titled Frybread as Fok, has been co-curated by students Zoë Laycock, Aaron Rice, Vance Wright, Taylor Baptiste, and Rylee Taje and features work by ECU Indigenous students, staff, faculty, and alumni.
Curator’s Statement
Frybread, that coveted deep-fried comfort food, found across turtle island beckons us to gather once again. A deep-fried dough, made of water, salt, flour, and lard. It represents survival and resilience. It is resistance. It is love. It is tragic and problematic, but we love it anyway.
Honey-brown, with a light crunchy surface and a fluffy core. It can be found at powwows, potlatch, lacrosse games, the Bingo Hall, wrapped in napkins and stuffed in purses, pockets, and picnic baskets.
Dads make ‘em, aunties, and moms make ‘em, rez dogs maybe not. Frybread is best served hot and fresh. It can be topped with chili and cheese, dipped in cinnamon sugar, or slathered in home-made jam. Frybread is great with butter and wild meat stews. Frybread feeds our hungry tongues, comforts our hearts and bridges the time away from one another. We gather, we welcome one another, and we move into the future.
Frybread is everything.
FRYBREAD AS FOK is a show that embodies the experiences of growing up unapologetically Indigenous. Over 30 artists of Indigenous heritage present their individual perspectives through painting, sculpture, film, printmaking, textile work and play. Spanning ECU students, faculty, staff, and alumni, this exhibition celebrates kin, makes space for the ancestors and for Indigenous voices. Frybread as Fok is a declaration of autonomy.
The celebrated artist aims to help Indigenous students connect more closely with their practices and one another ahead of the upcoming Indigenous art exhibition, which opens on Feb. 1 at Emily Carr.
A Toronto-born member of the Michipicoten First Nation, Rolande will give students support and guidance aimed at producing artwork for the upcoming Indigenous exhibition and increasing visual analysis within their practices.
“It’s good for emerging Indigenous artists to meet each other and develop friendships and networks,” Rolande remarks from her studio in North Vancouver where she is currently an artist-in-residence at Griffin Art Projects.
“It’s important to connect and share stories. The AGP has a lot of interesting materials that are also very traditional. It’ll be good to abstract those materials with students and see what they come up with.”
Artist and ECU student Nevada Lynn displays a drum which will be completed by fellow artist and ECU student Georgina “G” McBride for inclusion in the Frybread as Fok exhibition. (Photo by Perrin Grauer)
Artist and Manager of Aboriginal Programs at ECU Kajola Morewood works on her “Inuit yoyo” ahead of the show. (Photo by Perrin Grauer)
While Rolande has earned an international reputation for her experimental, multi-disciplinary practice, she came to art later in life. Having worked as a computer programmer in Canada, she moved to Sydney, Australia in the late 1990s. As a mother to two young children, she began looking for another career path.
“My mother said, ‘Why don’t you do an art degree?’” Rolande remembers. “I had never painted anything in my life. I did traditional regalia, but very badly. My mother said, ‘You’re always talking about art. You’re looking at art. Just give it a go.’”
Rolande began painting and assembling a portfolio, earning her admission to the BFA program at the Sydney College of the Arts. With tuition and childcare assistance from her First Nation, Rolande threw herself into her practice.
She entered the art school as a painter with a particular love for abstraction. Soon after, instructor and artist Mikala Dwyer introduced Rolande to installation art.
“I’ve never looked back,” she says. Working with industrial materials led to public artworks, and eventually to what she calls ‘socially engaged’ or ‘community art’.
Rolande has since earned a Master of Visual Arts degree, a PhD and a presence in galleries in Canada, Australia and beyond. She notes her cross-continental career was built on hard work in the community as much as in the studio.
Islands of Decolonial Love: A Reception and Readings. January 12, 2024 at 6pm (readings at 6:30pm)
Aboriginal Gathering Place at Emily Carr University of Art + Design
In celebration of Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s groundbreaking short story collection, writer & filmmaker Justin Ducharme explores key excerpts that are points of influence and research for his upcoming directorial feature film debut SEVENTEEN. Featuring live monologues by Shane Sable, Madelaine McCallum, Monday Blues and Tarene Thomas, selected and directed by Ducharme.
Presented by the Libby Leshgold Gallery + Aboriginal Gathering Place in conjunction with Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s sold out Hopper Lecture Theories of Water – Using Michi Saagiig Nishnaabe Consciousness to Dismantle the Present Moment.
Reception is free and open to the public; no registration required.
The artist and ECU student will have her work displayed for three months in the retailer’s flagship Vancouver store as part of a paid residency program in partnership with ECU.
The final iteration of a series of artist residencies at the Herschel Supply Company’s flagship Vancouver location will feature artist and ECU student Nevada Lynn.
Nevada will hang screen-prints of Douglas Fir tree rings from her seriesDouglas Fir/Srap7úlinside the glass-walled room within Herschel’s Gastown store. The images, which each include a land acknowledgement, can be seen through the sheer muslin on which they were printed, Nevada notes.
“By putting a land acknowledgement on each one of these pieces, I’m asking, how can we integrate these words into our everyday lives? And what do they actually mean?” Nevada says. “What’s my responsibility as a guest on traditional land? And what does that look like on a day-to-day basis?”
The Herschel Artist in Residence program was developed in partnership with both the Career Development + Work Integrated Learning office and the Advancement office at Emily Carr University with the goal of exhibiting the work of three emerging artists over the course of 2023 and 2024. The first edition was an open call for all ECU students; the second was specific to BIPOC students; the third was specific to Indigenous students. Karl Hipol was the inaugural resident, while Hannah Watkins was the second. Each recipient has their work exhibited for a period of roughly three months and receives a $4,000, no-strings-attached stipend.
Details from two works in the Douglas Fir/Srap7úl series by Nevada Lynn. (Photos courtesy Nevada Lynn)
Nevada, who is of Cree Métis and European ancestry, says Douglas Fir/Srap7úl is rooted in her experience of living on Alpha Lake, on the unceded territory of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) Nation and Lilwat7úl (Lil’wat) Nation. As part of a six-year recovery from a serious head injury, Nevada plunged into the lake’s icy waters for 365 days. As she healed and became more connected to the land, she began to wonder who its original caretakers had been.
Through her mother-in-law, she connected with a Lilwat7úl Elder residing in Mount Currie who had lived on a small island in the middle of the lake for a time as a child. During the visit, Nevada recalls asking her son what it was like when they lost their land.
“His answer was, ‘We never lost our land. It’s still our land,’” she tells me. “And then he told me the Whistler gondola runs through his uncle’s trapline. Displacement for Indigenous peoples is not ancient history. It’s still happening.”
As the final recipient of the 2023/4 Herschel residency, Nevada notes that Indigenous-specific funding can be “life-changing” for Indigenous artists.
“These artists are representing whole communities,” she says. “They don’t want to just be successful for themselves. They want to speak to issues that are really meaningful and urgent. That responsibility is driving their work. These kinds of grants are making a big difference in the lives of Indigenous artists, and Indigenous artists are affecting real change.”
Titled NIGIQTUQ ᓂᒋᖅᑐᖅ (The South Wind), the short drama was lauded by imagineNATIVE’s Moon Jury as an “incredibly moving story that brings you to tears” and “viscerally” connects the audience to its characters’ experiences.
“From the first frame, you are watching cinematic beauty from a filmmaker who understands the medium of cinema and knows how to conjure the spiritual element that sits within the most beautiful of our Indigenous cinematic offerings,” the jury writes. “Lindsay’s unique cinematic voice and talent is as clear and heartfelt as the South Wind it comes from.”
The Live Action Short Award is imagineNATIVE’s Oscar–qualifying category, meaning NIGIQTUQ ᓂᒋᖅᑐᖅ will be put forward to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for award consideration. The award also comes with a $7500 cash prize.
Lindsay, who often works in experimental documentary, says “it was a total shock” to win an award for a drama.
“Drama is so, so hard, and I have much respect for the people who do it. It’s really incredible to be honoured within this sphere,” she says. “But really, I think of the award as support for the story. Because it’s a really important story that we don’t talk about or know about, and it’s something I’m really passionate about bringing to the world.”
Still from NIGIQTUQ ᓂᒋᖅᑐᖅ (The South Wind), by Lindsay McIntyre. (Image courtesy Lindsay McIntyre)
NIGIQTUQ ᓂᒋᖅᑐᖅ is based on a true story told to Lindsay by her grandmother. It connects to a larger story that is touched upon in several of Lindsay’s other films, including her upcoming feature, The Words We Can’t Speak, currently in advanced development.
“Having left her Nunavut home in 1938 with her mother Kumaa’naaq (koo-MAT-na), young Marguerite must negotiate the unspoken pressures of being Inuk in her new life in the South,” reads the film’s synopsis. “When an extraordinary letter arrives from home, Marguerite discovers what’s really expected of her.”
The narrative reveals a type of benevolent racism that at once aims to erase Indigeneity and all its markers while purporting that it’s “for their own good”.
NIGIQTUQ ᓂᒋᖅᑐᖅ, which translates to “South Wind,” refers to an Inuit concept which celebrates positive change but also carries a caution.
“The south wind may bring blue skies and better conditions, but there’s also a sense of warning or a need to be present, because you can’t forget that the wind will always change back,” Lindsay says. This metaphor underscores Lindsay’s broader project of foregrounding an overlooked chapter in Canadian history.
“We know about residential schools and some of the other big ugly colonial wrongs, but we don’t often think about Inuit in the same way,” she says. “We don’t think about what the world was like for Inuit when the RCMP and the traders and the whalers and the missionaries showed up. My grandmother was an interpreter and servant to the RCMP in the early days of colonial interest so her story embodies how all of these different communities came together in a colonial context. And it’s unique because it was especially rare for an Inuk woman to be included in police business.”
Join us! This year we will be hosting a Winter Market where ECU’s Indigenous students can showcase and sell their work before the holidays. Refreshments will be provided.
Aboriginal Gathering Place, 2nd floor, Emily Carr University
520 E 1 Ave, Vancouver
On September 28, 2023, the Aboriginal Gathering Place hosted an unveiling ceremony of the Pacific Song of the Ancestors totem pole, a breathtaking new art installation by Master Carvers Dempsey Bob, Stan Bevan, and Lyonel Grant, now part of ECU’s permanent collection.
Former Director of Aboriginal Programs and Special Advisor to the President on Indigenous Initiatives Brenda Crabtree and ECU Chancellor Carleen Thomas (not pictured) unveil the ‘Pacific Song of the Ancestors’ totem pole. (Photo by Hayf Photography)
Story by Alex Korinowsky, excerpted from ECU News.
“This whole project is about community, communication and respect for Indigenous art, education and culture,” says Brenda Crabtree, the recently retired Director of Aboriginal Programs and Special Advisor to the President on Indigenous Initiatives at Emily Carr University. “The artists will tell you this is the most sculptural pole they’ve ever created—a refined work of art. For Emily Carr University to house this masterpiece that will inspire the public and generations of students, well, it’s simply priceless.”
Led by Sir Derek Lardelli (left) and Master Carver Dempsey Bob, family and community members from northern BC and New Zealand walk toward the Reliance Theatre at Emily Carr University during the ‘Pacific Song of the Ancestors’ totem pole unveiling ceremony on Sept. 28, 2023. (Photo by Perrin Grauer).
The collaborative work by Master Carvers Dempsey Bob (Tahltan-Tlingit), Stan Bevan (Tahltan-Tlingit and Tsimshian) and Lyonel Grant (Māori and Pakeha) began nearly a decade ago and embodies the spirit of community building, Indigenous interrelationships and reverence for the diverse Indigenous cultures within B.C. and beyond.
“The AGP at Emily Carr has always focused on celebrating the diversity of our Indigenous students, faculty and staff,” says Crabtree. “We honour and respect the local Host Nations, and we acknowledge that most of our Indigenous students come from all around B.C. and other provinces. We don’t often see Tahltan-Tlingit art in Vancouver, so for me, this project is about connecting with Indigenous artists from other communities, learning about and honouring their artistic traditions, and providing an opportunity for the public to experience this diversity.”
Master Carver Dempsey Bob (centre), along with his family and community members, leads the Carver’s Dance after the unveiling of the totem pole. (Photo by Hayf Photography)(From L): Tangimoe Clay, Bridy Lundon, Lady Rose Gould-Lardelli, Hinehimiata Lardelli, Sir Derek Lardelli, Lyonel Grant and Tamahou Temara (just out of frame) perform Māori protocols during the ‘Pacific Song of the Ancestors’ totem pole unveiling ceremony at Emily Carr University on Sept. 28, 2023. (Photo by Hayf Photography)
The 25-foot, 2,600-pound pole was primarily carved in Bevan’s studio in Terrace, B.C. with contributions from local carvers and students from the Freda Diesing School, who worked as apprentices. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Bob and Bevan intensified their focus on the pole. Crabtree surmises this newly found time to “hover” and develop the project led to the pole’s exceptional refinement and superb sculptural character.
In the summer of 2021, the pole was transported to Emily Carr University and craned up to the main floor where it lay covered at the AGP. The following summer in 2022, Bob and Bevan worked to complete the pole alongside visiting artist Lyonel Grant from New Zealand.
(From L): Master Carver Lyonel Grant, Master Carver Dempsey Bob and Master Carver Stan Bevan receive Speaker Blankets woven by Squamish Chief Janice George and her husband Buddy Joseph from Aboriginal Programs Coordinator Sydney Pickering and Aboriginal Programs Manager Kajola Morewood during the ‘Pacific Song of the Ancestors’ totem pole unveiling ceremony at Emily Carr University on Sept. 28. 2023. (Photo by Hayf Photography)
“The Māori’s culture is so similar to ours, with their weavers, carvers, dancers, singers, longhouses and canoe culture,” Dempsey Bob says in a statement about the project. “The pole, which tells the migration story of the wolves, eagles and grizzly bears, exemplifies the cultural relevance of movement, migration, exploration and our connection to our land. The movement of the figures points to this southward migration, with the eagle and wolf heads protruding downward, out of the traditional totem pole into a sculptural expression. The deeper carvings, the projected figures and the flowing hair make this work come to life.”
(From L): Master Carvers Dempsey Bob, Lyonel Grant and Stan Bevan with their ‘Pacific Song of the Ancestors’ totem pole following the unveiling ceremony at Emily Carr University on Sept. 28, 2023. (Photo by Hayf Photography)
The totem pole has been installed in the northwest corner of the ECU campus building outside the Reliance Theatre.
Emily Carr University of Art + Design is pleased to present this year’s Emily Award to celebrated contemporary visual artist Nadia Myre, who graduated from ECU in 1997.
