Kablusiak | Party City (where you belong)

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Kablusiak, "Tiny Wall Hanging (BIC Lighter)," 2022

felt, embroidery floss, artificial sinew, 2 1/4 x 1 1/2 in. Surprise Bag Component. Courtesy of the Gallery.

Opening Reception: Fri Dec 9 | 5 - 7 pm

Kablusiak’s multifaceted exhibition Party City (where you belong) celebrates nostalgia, novelty and the multiple. This new body of work is campy and subversive yet also sentimental, revolving around the allure and unknowns of the convenience store staple Surprise Bag. In this exhibition the Surprise Bag is a mysterious vessel that is brimming with art objects. The collector becomes part of a performative exchange where they intuitively select a bag without knowing its contents and must tear it open to discover their treasures.

Kablusiak is a multidisciplinary Inuvialuk artist and curator who uses Inuk ingenuity to create work in a variety of mediums including, but not limited to, lingerie, white flour, soapstone, permanent marker, bed sheets, felt, acrylic paint, and words. Their work explores the dis/connections between existence in the Inuit diaspora while maintaining family and community ties, the impacts of colonization on Inuit gender and sexuality expressions, as well as on health and wellbeing, and the everyday. In all of their creative work Kablusiak seeks to demystify Inuit art and create the space for Inuit-led representation of the diverse aspects of Inuit cultures.  

These limited-edition (edition of seven) Surprise Bags are comprised of ten parts. Each handcrafted archivally-printed bag contains eight small artworks and comes with a corresponding limited-edition print.