Truth to Material

Truth to Material
KRISTA BELLE STEWART
In 2006, she traveled to the Karl May Museum in Radebeul, Germany, where she met with 'The Band of Broken Arrows' one of many groups of German citizens who call themselves 'Indianer' inspired by the fictional novels of author Karl May. Indianer dress up in costume and perform what they imagine to be a North American Indigenous lifestyle. Stewart documented her experience during this trip, but waited to further develop the project.
It has now been thirteen years since Stewart's initial meeting with this community. After returning to Germany as an artist-in-residence at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin, she reconnected with the group of Indianer she met during her first visit. The number of people in the community has significantly dropped, almost by half. However, the culture of appropriation continues on. This summer, she was invited to participate in a large gathering of nearly 1000 Indianer from all over Europe. Enacting a kind of inverted anthropology, Stewart developed a new body of work revolving around these encounters for her solo exhibition at Nanaimo Art Gallery. While Indianer communities may seem at a distance, this exhibition can also be a point of reflection on the legacies of cultural inequality in British Columbia.
Considering what happens when cultural appropriation becomes tradition, Krista Belle Stewart's project is the third exhibition in a year in which Nanaimo Art Gallery asks the question: what are generations?
The exhibition is accompanied by an essay by Berlin based Canadian writer Mitch Speed.
Image courtesy of Krista Belle Stewart
Seraphine, Seraphine Screening and Artist Talk
Free | Everyone welcome
Register required, online or call 250.754.1750
Join artist Krista Belle Stewart for a screening of her video work Seraphine, Seraphine (2014), in which Stewart interweaves a 1967 CBC docu-drama about the first Aboriginal public health nurse in B.C. with excerpts from a personal testimony from the 2013 Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Both parts of this video feature the same person: the artist's mother, Seraphine Stewart. Contrasting the narrative constructed by our national broadcaster nearly 50 years ago with Seraphine's recent testimony as a residential school survivor, Krista Belle Stewart activates the dual role of the artist as both voice and witness. After the screening, Stewart will discuss Seraphine, Seraphine, and other projects.
Estuary
Estuary
https://soundcloud.com/user-927895033/under-perfect-blue-millipon-mile-sky/s-J1X04
Estuary Walk with Nancy Turner and Geraldine Manson
Estuary Talk with Tania Willard and Steven Thomas Davies
Free | Registration required
beds in estuarine ecosystems. On the last day of Estuary, join them for a special dialogue on site, where they will speak about their respective practices, and their collaboration for the exhibition.
Across the Table
Across the Table

Tailfeather
Dance workshops with Justine A. Chambers
May 15, 16, 17 and 18
3 to 4 pm in the Gallery
Free and open to all ages and abilities.
Drop-in to one or more workshops
Wear sneakers and comfortable clothing.
Presented in collaboration with Crimson Coast Dance Society
The anchors of Justine A. Chambers movement based practice are found in collaborative creation, close observation, and the idea of choreography as living archive. As part of Across the Table, she will lead a series of dance workshops in the Gallery. These workshops are based on conversations Justine had with her 90 year-old grandmother, Delores Hutchinson, in which Delores described the dances she frequented during her teens at The Parkway Ballroom on the south side of Chicago. In these free public workshops, Justine will collaborate with participants of all ages and abilities to translate Delores' stories back into dance.
Image: Justine A. Chambers, Justine & Delores Aug 7/1983 Edmonton, Image courtesy of the artist