Video: Lori Blondeau in conversation with Franchesca Hebert-Spence
On July 17, 2021 at 7pm CT Plug In ICA presented Lori Blondeau in conversation with Franchesca Hebert-Spence, an artist talk by Lori Blondeau as part of her solo exhibition I’m Not Your Kinda Princess which was on display from March 11, 2021 – July 31, 2021. The talk was followed by a Q+A moderated by Bronwyn Lutz-Greenhow.
Lori Blondeau is Cree/Saulteaux/Métis from Saskatchewan. Since the 1990s, Blondeau’s artistic practice in the fields of performance, photography and installation, along with her curatorial work and activities as co-founder and Executive Director of the Indigenous art collective TRIBE, has proved decisive to the ever-increasing centrality of Indigenous art and knowledge production in Canada. With her performances, which include Are You My Mother? (2000), Sisters (2002) and States of Grace (2007) and photographic work, including COSMOSQUAW (1996), Lonely Surfer Squaw (1997) and Asinîy Iskwew (2016), Blondeau’s practice, both as a solo artist and in collaboration with fellow Visual artists including Visual Artists James Luna, Rebecca Belmore, Shelly Niro and Adrian Stimson, demonstrates a clarity of focus which is remarkable for its precision, humour and strength. Her photographic and installation work has been exhibited in group and solo exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Windsor (Ontario), Kelowna Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Alberta (Edmonton) and Remai Modern (Saskatoon) among numerous others. Her performance pieces have been showcased at Nuit Blanche (Saskatoon and Winnipeg), VIVO (Vancouver), Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto) and the 2007 Venice Biennial. Blondeau has participated in panel discussions and given lectures at the AGO, the University of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon), the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (Santa Fe) and the 2020 Sydney Biennale. Since 2018, Blondeau is an Assistant Professor of Indigenous Art at the University of Manitoba School of Art; sat on the Advisory Panel for the Canada Council, Visual Arts program and served as a member of the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective. Blondeau was a recipient of the 2021 Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts.
Franchesca Hebert-Spence is Anishinaabe and her grandmother Marion Ida Spence was from Sagkeeng First Nation, on Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba. Hebert-Spence is an independent curator and writer whose engagement with her community is directly informed by kinship and it’s responsibilities. The foundation for this practice sprung from Ishkabatens Waasa Gaa Inaabateg, Brandon University Visual and Aboriginal Arts program. She previously served as an Adjunct Curator, Indigenous Art at the Art Gallery of Alberta, and a Curatorial Assistant within the Indigenous Art Department at the National Gallery of Canada. She is a currently a PhD student in Cultural Mediations (Visual Culture) at Carleton University, and is a Fellow on the Morrisseau Project under Dr. Carmen Robertson.