Return to INDIGENA

Teraanga Commons, Rooms 270 / 272 / 274, Carleton University    

October 5, 2024

1:30 pm - 3:30 pm

Revisit a pivotal moment in Indigenous art history

Join Lee-Ann Martin, Alexandra Kahsenni:io Nahwegahbow and Michelle McGeough in a free public conversation moderated by Danielle Printup. They will revisit a pivotal moment in Indigenous art history by exploring INDIGENA: Perspectives of Indigenous Peoples on 500 Years, the groundbreaking 1992 exhibition mounted at the Canadian Museum of History.  

This watershed exhibition marked the first time an international touring show was entirely created and presented by Indigenous curators. The exhibition publication was equally as monumental, with all the written contributions exclusively authored by Indigenous writers.    

This discussion is the first in a a series of three conversations organized by Carmen Robertson and Danielle Printup, in anticipation of Runs in the Family, a group exhibition curated by Carmen Robertson and Hanako Hubbard-Radulovich and presented at CUAG in fall 2025.

The series focuses on Indigenous curatorial practices, highlighting dialogic practice as a key methodology. It will foster dialogue, honour memories, explore movements and recognize the transformative impact of Indigenous curation across generations. Throughout the series, speakers and participants will explore the evolution of Indigenous curation, highlighting how curatorial practices are active currents that adapt and respond to changing contexts over time.   

This conversation is free and open to everyone. No registration is required. Light refreshments will be provided.

This event is part of Stonecroft Semester: The Art of Connection. More info here.

Participants

Lee-Ann Martin (Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte) is an Ottawa-based independent curator of contemporary Indigenous art. She is the former Head Curator of the MacKenzie Art Gallery and the former Curator of Contemporary Aboriginal Art at the Canadian Museum of Civilization.  She has curated, written and lectured extensively on contemporary Indigenous art for more than twenty-five years.  

Michelle McGeough (Métis/Cree) is an assistant professor in the Department of Art History in the Faculty of Fine Arts at Concordia. She taught Museum Studies at the Institute of American Indian Art and was the Assistant Curator at the Wheelwright Museum of the Native American Indian in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She completed her PhD in Indigenous art history at the University of New Mexico in 2017.

Alexandra Kahsenni:io Nahwegahbow (she/her) is Anishinaabe and Kanien’kehá:ka, and a member of Whitefish River First Nation with maternal roots in Kahnawà:ke Mohawk Territory. She is a lecturer at Carleton University, cross appointed between the Department of History and the Curatorial Studies program in the Institute of Comparative Studies in Literature, Art and Culture. She is the former Associate Curator of Historical Indigenous Art at the National Gallery of Canada.