A new solo exhibition of stunning recent works by multidisciplinary artist Luke Parnell (MAA 2012) is headed to the Bill Reid Gallery.

Luke Parnell is Wilp Laxgiik Nisga’a (House of Eagles) from Gingolx on his mother’s side and Haida from Massett on his father’s side.

While Luke’s training has included a traditional apprenticeship with a master Northwest Coast Indigenous carver, his use of materials is “determined on a project-by-project basis,” according to OCAD University, where he works as Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Art. That open-minded approach to materiality is on full display in Indigenous History in Colour, which opens at the Bill Reid on Feb. 2.

Works in the exhibition include last year’s collaborative installation, Neon Reconciliation Explosion (2020). The monumental artwork combines 44 panels to form a Northwest Coast housefront in Nisga’a style. Viewed together, the works reveal a formline butterfly design. Each of the panels was painted by “55 community members with bright neon colours, in reflection of their own personal understanding of reconciliation,” according to the gallery.

Luke’s contribution, by contrast, stands stark at the centre of the work — an unfinished lumber doorway marked by the initials “TF” and “CB,” in memory of Tina Fontaine and Colten Boushie. (Fontaine’s body was found in Winnipeg’s Red River six years ago; a man charged with her murder was found not guilty in 2018. Her case was one of many that led to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Boushie was shot and killed by Saskatchewan farmer Gerald Stanley in 2016; Stanley was later acquitted of charges in the case. Both verdicts sparked Indigenous-led protests nation-wide, calling for justice for the slain teens).

Full article by Perrin Grauer: https://www.ecuad.ca/news/2021/new-luke-parnell-solo-show-bill-reid-gallery