Ariel Smith

Ariel Smith is an award winning nêhiyaw, white settler and Jewish filmmaker, video artist, writer, and cultural worker. Ariel has worked as a programmer/curator for such organizations as galerie saw gallery, The Ottawa International Animation Festival, Reel Canada, imagineNATIVE, Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre, and the National Gallery of Canada. Ariel works as the Artistic and Managing Director of Native Women in the Arts and is in the process of completing an MFA in Film Production from York University.

Image: Materialized exhibition view at Critical Distance, Toronto, 2023. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid.

PUBLIC ART: Billboard on Shaw by Nadya Kwandibens

April 21, 2023 - August 3, 2023

Billboard on Shaw co-presented by Native Women in the Arts and Critical Distance  in partnership with Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival and Partners in Art, featuring Shiibaashka’igan: Honouring the Sacred Jingle Dress by Nadya Kwandibens.

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EXHIBITION: Materialized

April 21, 2023 - June 3, 2023

Curated by Ariel Smith and featuring works by Joi T. Arcand, Celeste Pedri-Spade, Catherine Blackburn and Nadya Kwandibens, Materialized examines themes of intergenerational memory, familial narrative, and decolonization through artworks combining portrait photography with elements from adornment arts, textiles, sculpture, and customary Indigenous art practices.

 

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