Sikapinakii Low Horn | IMIITAIKS’IISTSIK’OONI

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Sikapinakii Low Horn, “Apikayii,” 2023

digital illustration (Courtesy of the artist)

Opening Reception: Saturday Jan. 27 from 6 to 8 p.m.

Sikapinakii Low Horn’s practice combines painting and installation in the pursuit of welcoming spaces that connect back to Blackfoot land and stories. IMIITAIKS’IISTSIK’OONI, which translates to “the dog days” in Blackfoot, refers to a time from a few hundred years ago to thousands of years ago before horses arrived on this land. During this time, Blackfoot people were closely co-dependent on dogs to pull the canine-sized travois of two long poles and a leather harness to help with the labour of moving camp. The importance of dogs in the Blackfoot way of life, especially before the arrival of horses, can be seen in changes such as the sizes of tipis that accommodated dog companions.

In the Library Gallery, Low Horn’s painted mural on the white walls of the space is concerned with the close inter-species connections of the dog days and the continuing importance of dogs in Blackfoot culture. Within the painting, Low Horn includes a common motif of their work, vibrant seas of undulating lines that surround the dogs and their travois. As these lines converge and move together, they appear as water ripples, air currents, or moving grass, another reminder of the dynamic exchanges between natural forces and the beings that experience them.

Low Horn creates spaces meant to feel welcoming to other Blackfoot people. Considering the exclusive histories of libraries and galleries to Indigenous knowledge, Low Horn intervenes on the physical structures of the settler institution, pushing back against assumptions that spaces for learning or knowledge must also be austere. Low Horn’s mural is a painted gesture of invitation to engage in open learning about Blackfoot stories while also acknowledging close relationships to canine friends.