Artist Panel: Materialized
Joi T. Arcand, Celeste Pedri-Spade, Catherine Blackburn, and Nadya Kwandibens

Saturday, April 22nd, 2023
1:00 pm
Urbanspace Gallery
Ground floor of 401 Richmond – 401 Richmond St W, Toronto

Join us for a panel discussion featuring the artists from our spring exhibition Materialized. Artists Joi T. Arcand, Celeste Pedri-Spade, Catherine Blackburn, and Nadya Kwandibens will present brief artist talks, followed by a discussion moderated by curator Ariel Smith (Artistic & Managing Director, Native Women in the Arts).

This panel is presented as part of Materialized, an exhibition co-presented by Native Women in the Arts and Critical Distance Centre for Curators, in partnership with Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival and Partners in Art. Materialized is on view at Critical Distance Centre for Curators from April 21 to June 3.

This is a free, public event: everyone is invited.
Capacity is limited, register in advance on Eventbrite

About the artist(s)

Joi T. Arcand is an artist from Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, Saskatchewan, Treaty 6 Territory, currently residing in Ottawa, Ontario. Her practice includes installation, photography and design and is characterized by a visionary and Subversive reclamation and indigenization of public spaces through the use of Cree language and syllabics.

Catherine Blackburn was born in Patuanak Saskatchewan, of Dene and European ancestry and is a member of the English River First Nation. She is a multidisciplinary artist and jeweller, whose common themes address Canada’s colonial past that are often prompted by personal narratives.

Celeste Pedri-Spade is an Anishinabekwe artist from Lac Des Mille Lacs First Nation. She identifies as a “mark maker” who works primarily with textiles and photography.

Nadya Kwandibens is Anishinaabe from the Animakee Wa Zhing #37 First Nation in northwestern Ontario. In 2008 she founded Red Works Photography, a dynamic photography company empowering contemporary Indigenous lifestyles and cultures through photographic essays, features, and portraits.

About the curator(s)

Ariel Smith is an award winning nêhiyaw, white settler and Jewish filmmaker, video artist, writer, and cultural worker. 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.

Accessibility

ASL Interpretation will be available at this event.
Critical Distance and Urbanspace Gallery are located on the ground floor at 401 Richmond, a wheelchair accessible building with a ramp at the Richmond Street doors and an accessible washroom on every level.

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Thank you to our presenting partner, Native Women in the Arts. This program is made possible through the generous support of Partners in Art and Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival. Critical Distance gratefully acknowledges funding support from the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario.

Image: Joi T. Arcand, Through That Which is Scene, 2014. Courtesy of the artist.