Ruth Cuthand: Beads In The Blood
鈥淪tories survive, stories move beyond the realm of our voices, they move beyond the realm of our memories, and they choose not to live in the past. Stories live within us, germinating in each child, stories with umbilical cords feeding a mother鈥檚 heart. You hear people say it is your blood memory; the stories will come to you in dreams if you are meant to have them. They say the stories live on in our language and on our faces. Our words are not gendered; they comprise animate and inanimate beings. The beings in our language鈥攚e are related to them.鈥� 鈥� Felicia Gay, curator
For nearly four decades, Ruth Cuthand (Plains Cree/Scottish) has influenced the contemporary art landscape in Canada with her narrative-driven artwork. A member of Little Pine Cree Nation in Saskatchewan, she is a matriarch in Indigenous contemporary art practice, mentoring generations of Indigenous artists and prompting shifts in how artists engage with community knowledge. Through her work, she has provided a thoughtful, honest and, at times, critical look at what it is to be Indigenous and a woman in Canada. With humour and biting wit, Cuthand critiques the historical and contemporary narratives of the colonial project and highlights their damaging effects.
Beads in the Blood / m墨gisak m墨gohk: A Ruth Cuthand Retrospective, curated by Swampy Cree curator Felicia Gay, looks at Cuthand鈥檚 career from 1983 to 2024. It comprises new and past works, including video, mixed-media installation, and photography, and collaborative story-work between Cuthand and Gay. Cuthand鈥檚 life鈥檚 work is to tell stories that live beyond the aural realm and move into the visual. Story lives within the bead/mikis (mee-gis); it lives in our bodies, in our blood. Cuthand鈥檚 interest in beads as signifier, medium, and tool for decolonization began with Trading Series in 2009, an award-winning suite of twelve images of viruses. Eleven of the viruses were transmitted to Indigenous people through European contact during the process of colonization, while one virus travelled from Indigenous territory to Europe. Cuthand believes the bead is alive, and because it is alive, it is a story-keeper.
Works included in the exhibition range from Ruth Cuthand鈥檚 paintings and drawings from the early 1980s, to her photographs and photo-collages of the 1990s and early 2000s, to her public interventions, film collaborations, performative photography, and public art. Much of the attention will be given to the two-and three-dimensional beaded works that grew out of the Trading Series, including: the Reserving Series (2019鈥�2020), featuring works such as Reserving Polio (2011) and Reserving Whooping Cough (2018); the Surviving Series, with works such as Surviving HIV (2021) and Surviving Hepatitis C (2019); the Don鈥檛 Breathe, Don鈥檛 Drink Series (2016); the Boil Water Advisory Series (2016); the Covid Mask Series (2020); the Beaded Brain Scans Series (2020), and more. Currently, Cuthand is creating a new work for the exhibition and tour. These works demonstrate her keen ability to fuse traditional knowledge and techniques with contemporary issues and material exploration.
For this exhibition, Gay will situate Cuthand鈥檚 life鈥檚 work through their mutual understanding of Cree Indigenous knowledge(s) and embodied storytelling practices. Gay has closely worked with Cuthand for almost twenty years, curating exhibitions and facilitating community engagements. This exhibition is an expanded version of one mounted at the University of Saskatchewan Art Galleries during the Covid lockdown in 2020. It will encapsulate Cuthand鈥檚 diverse range of interests and strategies, and engage communities with stories that encourage knowing, caution, and continuation or survival.
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鈥淪tories survive, stories move beyond the realm of our voices, they move beyond the realm of our memories, and they choose not to live in the past. Stories live within us, germinating in each child, stories with umbilical cords feeding a mother鈥檚 heart. You hear people say it is your blood memory; the stories will come to you in dreams if you are meant to have them. They say the stories live on in our language and on our faces. Our words are not gendered; they comprise animate and inanimate beings. The beings in our language鈥攚e are related to them.鈥� 鈥� Felicia Gay, curator
For nearly four decades, Ruth Cuthand (Plains Cree/Scottish) has influenced the contemporary art landscape in Canada with her narrative-driven artwork. A member of Little Pine Cree Nation in Saskatchewan, she is a matriarch in Indigenous contemporary art practice, mentoring generations of Indigenous artists and prompting shifts in how artists engage with community knowledge. Through her work, she has provided a thoughtful, honest and, at times, critical look at what it is to be Indigenous and a woman in Canada. With humour and biting wit, Cuthand critiques the historical and contemporary narratives of the colonial project and highlights their damaging effects.
Beads in the Blood / m墨gisak m墨gohk: A Ruth Cuthand Retrospective, curated by Swampy Cree curator Felicia Gay, looks at Cuthand鈥檚 career from 1983 to 2024. It comprises new and past works, including video, mixed-media installation, and photography, and collaborative story-work between Cuthand and Gay. Cuthand鈥檚 life鈥檚 work is to tell stories that live beyond the aural realm and move into the visual. Story lives within the bead/mikis (mee-gis); it lives in our bodies, in our blood. Cuthand鈥檚 interest in beads as signifier, medium, and tool for decolonization began with Trading Series in 2009, an award-winning suite of twelve images of viruses. Eleven of the viruses were transmitted to Indigenous people through European contact during the process of colonization, while one virus travelled from Indigenous territory to Europe. Cuthand believes the bead is alive, and because it is alive, it is a story-keeper.
Works included in the exhibition range from Ruth Cuthand鈥檚 paintings and drawings from the early 1980s, to her photographs and photo-collages of the 1990s and early 2000s, to her public interventions, film collaborations, performative photography, and public art. Much of the attention will be given to the two-and three-dimensional beaded works that grew out of the Trading Series, including: the Reserving Series (2019鈥�2020), featuring works such as Reserving Polio (2011) and Reserving Whooping Cough (2018); the Surviving Series, with works such as Surviving HIV (2021) and Surviving Hepatitis C (2019); the Don鈥檛 Breathe, Don鈥檛 Drink Series (2016); the Boil Water Advisory Series (2016); the Covid Mask Series (2020); the Beaded Brain Scans Series (2020), and more. Currently, Cuthand is creating a new work for the exhibition and tour. These works demonstrate her keen ability to fuse traditional knowledge and techniques with contemporary issues and material exploration.
For this exhibition, Gay will situate Cuthand鈥檚 life鈥檚 work through their mutual understanding of Cree Indigenous knowledge(s) and embodied storytelling practices. Gay has closely worked with Cuthand for almost twenty years, curating exhibitions and facilitating community engagements. This exhibition is an expanded version of one mounted at the University of Saskatchewan Art Galleries during the Covid lockdown in 2020. It will encapsulate Cuthand鈥檚 diverse range of interests and strategies, and engage communities with stories that encourage knowing, caution, and continuation or survival.
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