Sandra Froher | Energy

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Sandra Froher, "Wasting Time," 2022

mixed media on canvas, 36x48 in. Courtesy of the Gallery.

Opening is Saturday, November 19, 11:00-6:00pm

In September 2022, Sandra Froher presented her collection  at the International Indigenous Fashion Show during New York Fashion Week.

“Including my hand-made jewelry felt like bringing a piece of Vancouver Island to New York.  I was doing this for all of us, raising up the models, honouring my ancestors, bringing forward an elder’s blessing and walking proud within my own living heritage.” Sandra Froher.

Sensory delights abound at Sandra Froher’s Energy exhibition. Froher’s bright abstractions sing with vibrant colour and expressive linework. Confident in size and palette, they suggest other-worldly spaces through washes of vibrating colour and intermingling shapes and forms. Froher is also a fashion designer, who uses botanical dyes to eco-print natural fabrics like silk. During long walks by her seaside home, she gathers plant material and found objects. These outings connect her with the natural world and her Indigenous heritage.

Sandra Froher is a member of the Sqwa First Nation in the Fraser Valley, her Stó:lõ ancestry dates back to the late 1800s. Recently, she reconnected with her home reserve and found a fleet of long-lost cousins. She received teachings from an elder and learned how to speak her name in her native tongue. Froher explains that she now operates in two worlds: one modern and one traditional. “I use contemporary mediums and materials in my paintings,” she says, “and am guided by ancestral wisdoms and teachings during my botanical collections and eco-dyeing.”

Sandra Froher met modeling agent Kim Coltman of Fashion Speaks International while doing a fashion shoot in Vancouver. Coltman is an Indigenous woman who supports designers and models, believing that fashion and clothing are a pathway to healing and revitalization of culture. In August of 2022, Froher joined with five other talented Indigenous designers to present a fashion show at Moccasin Square Gardens in Kamloops. The event was filmed as part of a documentary produced by Telus Storyhive. “It was a beautiful fashion show,” she says, “I showed 10 styles (outfits) and used my traditional language to introduce myself.” The designer found the location touching, as it was close to the notorious Kamloops Residential School. Unmarked graves, believed to hold the remains of Indigenous children, were discovered on this site in May 2021.

Red Dress for Ellen is made to honour her paternal grandmother, Ellen. After giving birth to Froher’s father at age 17, she disappeared to become a sad statistic within the missing and murdered Indigenous women legacy. The 17 hand-prints on the dress mark Ellen’s age. The red dress has two shades of red. One hue symbolizes the blood shed from a people in mourning. The other red signifies the life-blood of a living connection activated by her granddaughter’s remembrance. “I am giving life to Ellen’s voice for myself and the greater community,” says Froher.

In September 2022, Froher spent 6 days in New York City. She was invited to show her collection at the International Indigenous Fashion Show during New York Fashion Week. Froher and her fashion stylist stayed at the glamorous Hotel Edison in Times Square. “I felt over-the-top excitement being part of the New York fashion scene,” she says. During the one-hour program, Froher presented 15 fashion outfits on the glittering walkway, from her collection Mother Earth - the Rooted One. ​

​The yellow dress is dyed from dandelions and marigolds from the designer’s eco-garden. The models' accessories included Froher’s unique eco-jewelry made from seed pods and plant material gathered in Victoria. For Froher, including her jewelry felt like bringing a piece of Vancouver Island to New York. “I was doing this for all of us,” she says, “raising up the models, honouring my ancestors, bringing forward an elder’s blessing and walking proud within my own living heritage.”