KWÍKWI: Lauren Brevner and James Nexw’Kalus-Xwalacktun Harry | The Seventh

×

Expand

Blaine Campbell Photo: Blaine Campbell

KWÍKWI: Lauren Brevner and James Nexw’Kalus-Xwalacktun Harry, “Yéẁyews,” 2023

(courtesy of the gallery) (photo: Blaine Campbell)

The Seventh marks the first solo exhibition by KWÍKWI: Lauren Brevner and James Nexw’Kalus-Xwalacktun Harry. The discursive project explores a pivotal moment in the artists’ decade-long collaborative practice and builds upon their significant contributions to intersectional conversations around Indigenous representation and land-based gestures in contemporary art.

The newly commissioned sculptural works presented within The Seventh engage familial supports and knowledges, including Brevner’s Japanese and Trinidadian heritage and Harry’s ongoing commitment to sharing Sḵwx̱wú7mesh stories, forms, and designs. The exhibition pays homage to innovative material traditions while engaging experimentation through collaboration and cross-cultural exchange. From monumental public artwork to intimate portraiture, the multiple registers of scale and breadth of  materials invite opportunities for diverse expression and experience. The Seventh will be the first public viewing of each artwork presented within the exhibition, and will include the activation of two large cedar carvings entitled Sna7m Sea (2023) and Sna7m Sky (2023).

Together KWÍKWI recognizes that the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, and səlilwətaɬ people and territories are timeless. Their explorations pay honour and respect to how these vast relations have shaped the many publics that have emerged out of the history of this place—specifically, the rich and culturally diverse local community in the area immediately surrounding the Or Gallery in Chinatown, Hogan’s Alley, Strathcona, the Downtown East Side, False Creek Flats, and adjacent neighbourhoods.