ECHOLALIAS: TAMARA LEE-ANN CARDINAL, JESSIE FRASER, BREANNA LITTLE + NIKI LITTLE + BECCA TAYLOR, ANNA SEMENOFF

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ECHOLALIAS Invitation

OPENING RECEPTION: FRIDAY, APRIL 7 @8PM 

IN-CONVERSATION: JESSIE FRASER, BECCA TAYLOR, ANNA SEMENOFF, AREUM KIM

MAY 19, 2017 @7PM

Join us tomorrow, Friday, May 19 at 7PM for an In-Conversation between artists Jessie Fraser, Becca Taylor, Anna Semenoff and curator Areum Kim. This will be an evening of informal dialogue pertaining to each artist’s practice and the intersections in the exhibition ECHOLALIAS, around topics of personal and collective memory, the passage of knowledge, as well as re-presenting and materializing narratives. 

/ECHOLALIA, rooted in the Greek words ekho, or “to repeat”, and lalia, or “speech,” is known as the condition of automatic repetition of vocalizations. The linguist Daniel Heller-Roazen expands this term into the processes of language that is founded in the collusion of forgetting and remembering; in this dialectical process a pre-linguistic child must shed their capability of mimicking or echoing a myriad of sounds and retain a limited set of signs in order to acquire language. And such remembrance and erasure is constantly negotiated within the speaking subject. The works of these emerging artists in this exhibition each present a rich terrain where things, images, knowledge, and narratives disappear and reappear; where they are obstinately recorded and re-figured, the channels of knowledge reverted and re-directed. In turn, these works generate several passages through which the present ties itself back into what has been passed down, echoed and mined.

/ARTIST BIOTAMARA LEE-ANN CARDINAL is a multi-media artist, community activist, oskâpêwis, and lifelong learner. Born and raised in Treaty 6 territory she currently lives in Calgary, Alberta. Tamara traces her ancestral roots back to both Saddle Lake Cree Nation, and the once German occupied lands of the Ukraine. Tamara is the recipient of the National BMO Art! Competition Award of 2015 for her work Back into the Earth: Creation and the Interpretation of Meaning, which speaks to her core interests in community, family heritage, and our human connection with Mother Earth. Her artwork continues to be a reflection of the teachings she receives along her journey, inviting all people to become a part of the process.

JESSIE FRASER is a craft oriented visual artist working predominantly in the medium of fibre. Fraser completed a BFA at the Alberta College of Art & Design in 2013. Informed by texts, collected objects and forgotten techniques, Fraser’s practice centers on the processes of weaving, creating narratives that consider concepts of life and death in an attempt to hold on to, recreate, or lay to rest physical and emotional memories. 

BREANNA LITTLE is Oji-Cree from Garden Hill, Manitoba. Little started beading and leatherwork a few years ago, and since then she has been teaching herself a variety of techniques. She has a growing interest in exploring Indigenous crafts from North and South America, with a particular interest in beading. Little brings Traditional practices into her contemporary life through craft, cooking and healing techniques.  She has taught workshops at MAWA and collaborated with Becca Taylor in the 2014 Winnipeg Folk Festival Prairie Outdoor Exhibition with their project Weaving Together. 

NIKI LITTLE is an artist/observer and arts administrator whose works extends from writing, curating, arts coordination and engaging in transient artistic experiences. She is the Distribution Coordinator at the Winnipeg Film Group. Little is on the President of the Independent Media Arts Alliance and Treasurer for the National Indigenous Media Arts Coalition. She studied at the University of Manitoba, the National Screen Institute, and the Camberwell College of Art, London, UK, and completed the MAWA’s mentorship program. As an arts administrator, Little is interested in developing community based opportunities that explore theoretical and practical arts and culturally based experiences.

ANNA SEMENOFF is a Calgary a based artist currently attending her third year at The Alberta College of Art and Design. Her practice is comprised of primarily video andsculptural based works -- employing notions within the field of phenomenology; behaviours and structures of thought resonate as the platform for her material practice. 

BECCA TAYLOR is a multi-disciplinary artist and curator of Cree, Scottish and Irish decent who holds a BFA from the Alberta College of Art and Design. Her practice involves investigations of Indigenous community building and Indigenous feminisms through various mediums including textiles, beading, and installation. Recently she was the Aboriginal Curator-in-residence at Urban Shaman, awarded through the Canada Council for the Arts and is currently at the Banff Center participating in the Indigenous Research and Admin Practicum. Taylor is a member of the Ociciwan Contemporary Art Collective, based out of Edmonton, Alberta.

 ** Stride Gallery and Anna Semenoff would like to thank the generous material sponsorship donated by Chinook Glass and Screen Ltd., Crystal Glass Ltd, End Of The Roll, and Industrial Plastics & Paints.

Stride Gallery would also like to thank the generous technical assistance and consultation from the Walter Phillips Gallery, Ashley Bedet, Noel Begin, Natasha Chaykowski, Peta Rake and Magnus Tiesenhausen.