Nadia Myre: Acts that Fade Away

April 28 – August 5, 2018
Salah J. Bachir New Media Wall
Curator: Gaëlle Morel

As part of a recent residency at the McCord Museum in Montreal, multidisciplinary artist Nadia Myre created four Indigenous-inspired objects—a pair of baby moccasins, a small basket, a woman’s hair bonnet, and a bandolier bag—guided only by instructions drawn from nineteenth-century women’s magazines. Myre’s video Acts that Fade Away presents the artist’s hands and forearms, filmed from above, as she carefully manipulates the needles, threads, patterns, beads, and tools necessary to craft these objects. As her hands work, viewers experience the dedication, dexterity, and patience required to complete the various tasks. Because the video is silent, however, we do not hear the guidelines, suggesting the evanescence associated with historic oral transmission of traditional knowledge. Through the reappropriation of instructions and gestures drawn from European and North American illustrated publications, Myre reclaims Indigenous skills and crafts devalued as a consequence of colonization. 

Event(s):

Opening Party & Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival
Friday, April 27
7:00–11:00 PM

Exhibition Tours
Daily 2:30 PM