As part of Sovereign Intimacies:
Revealing and Understanding Sacred Roles Through Our Own Process
An Artist Talk by Cheyenne Thomas and David Thomas
Friday, October 30, 2020 | 6 pm CT
Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art | 1, 460 Portage Ave | Winnipeg MB | Canada
Plug In ICA is excited to invite you to the first in a series of online gatherings as part of Sovereign Intimacies, an exhibition co-curated by Nasrin Himada and Jennifer Smith in partnership with Gallery 1C03, with support from Video Pool Media Arts Centre. The exhibition is on view until December 20, 2020. To kick off the extensive online program as part of Sovereign Intimacies, we are pleased to present an artist talk by Cheyenne Thomas and David Thomas, “Revealing and Understanding Sacred Roles Through Our Own Process,” on Friday, October 30 at 6 pm CT.
“Working together has brought understanding to the traditional roles that exist in our community, these roles in our work have continuously shifted back and forth between, daughter, father, artist, best friend, designer, colleague. Through our work, we explore what it is to be Indigenous, what it is to be an Indigenous woman, revealing the value of matriarchal roles in our practice.”
Cheyenne Thomas is an Anishinaabe designer from Peguis and Sagkeeng First Nations. She graduated in 2013 from the Faculty of Architecture with an Environmental Design degree. She has worked on numerous Indigenous architecture, landscape, and installations across Canada. She has been a facilitator and designer for the Indigenous Gardens at the Assiniboine Park and presented in the UK, New Zealand, and across Canada. Currently, Thomas is a board member for the Forks and North Portage Partnership, and passionate about bringing her peoples visions and values into her work.
David Thomas is Anishinaabe, a member of Peguis First Nation. He is currently involved in the development of the Indigenous People’s Garden at Assiniboine Park part of Canada’s Diversity Garden. Along with Indigenous architecture projects throughout Canada, David has presented in New Zealand and the UK. David was also part of UNCEDED, Canada’s entry of Indigenous Architects for the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale. David’s practice, process and research focus on identity and lived experience as an Indigenous person.
Sovereign Intimacies is a group exhibition co-curated by Nasrin Himada and Jennifer Smith, in partnership with Gallery 1C03, with support from Video Pool Media Arts Centre. The exhibition takes place at Plug In ICA from September 26 – December 20, 2020, with extensive programming that consists of online talks, workshops, screenings, and poetry readings. Sovereign Intimacies explores themes of cultural and community exchange between Indigenous artists and artists from the diaspora, more specifically artists who are First Nations, Inuit and Métis collaborating with artists living in what is currently called Canada who came to this land and are not part of the settler/colonial history of the country. The group show consists of pairings of artists, as well as individuals, whose work is based on process and relationship building, and for those whose work is invested in active conceptualization around topics of friendship and intimacy, who are working to build collective vision of a sovereign future.