Mark Bennett: I'm Tired
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Gallery 1C03 515 Portage Ave, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9
Mark Bennett, "I'm Tired," 2022
Toronto-based Inuk designer Mark Bennett premieres his work in Winnipeg with I’m Tired, a vinyl wall art installation. Bennett reflects on burnout within the arts, explores the importance of digital communications as a tool for community building in the absence of in-person gatherings and underscores the vital need for critical discussions around identity, community responsibility and institutional pressures.
I'm Tired is presented in conjunction with the Inuit Studies Conference 2022: Auviqsaqtut which takes place at The University of Winnipeg and Qaumajuq/Winnipeg Art Gallery from June 19 – 22. Auviqsaqtut [Ouuuv-vick-suk-took] can be translated to cutting blocks to make an iglu, or working together to build an iglu. Auviqsaqtuq evokes themes of collaboration, Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, sharing intergenerational knowledge, and building something together.
About the artist
Mark Bennett is an Inuk designer from western Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland) and currently based out of Tkaronto, Ontario (Toronto). His practice is rooted in graphic design but explores other mediums such as printmaking, code, moving images, and sound. The primary focus of his work is about the exploration of his mixed identity, developed from ongoing questions and conversations with his community and family about fitting in, and lack thereof. Mark has a full-time commercial design practice collaborating with artists, galleries, and cultural organizations, and is a part-time undergraduate architecture student at the University of Toronto. One of Mark's most recent projects includes the publication and exhibition graphic design for INUA, at Qaumajuq-Winnipeg Art Gallery.
About the Curator
Franchesca Hebert-Spence currently resides in Ottawa is Anishinaabe from Winnipeg, Manitoba, her grandmother Marion Ida Spence was from Sagkeeng First Nation, on Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba. The foundation of her creative practice stems from Ishkabatens Waasa Gaa Inaabateg, Brandon University Visual and Aboriginal Arts program. She has begun as a PhD student in Cultural Mediations (Visual Culture) at Carleton University and will look at the presence of guest/host protocols within Indigenous methodological practices with a focus on visual art in Canada.