Skeena Reece: Surrounded

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Skeena Reece, "Hold Me (production still)," 2018

photo: Ian Barbour

SURROUNDED: SKEENA REECE

Opening reception: Thursday, June 27 from 6 to 9 pm with performance by Skeena Reece at 6:30 pm 

Last year, the Belkin Art Gallery was delighted to acquire The Time It Takes (2017), the adult-sized cradleboard artwork by Skeena Reece, for our permanent collection. At that time, Reece said that she had always wanted to work with the cradleboard to create a series of photographs that would document her wrapping specific people in the moss bag. 

As Reece describes it, "The bag is a place to rest for a moment, evoking a feeling of longing, not a feeling of loss. Being wrapped gives a calming feeling that elicits hope for the future, and is a way to hold people up."

The artwork began as a performance for The Fraud That Goes Under the Name of Love, a group exhibition at the SFU Audain Gallery in Vancouver in 2016. It was later performed at the Musée d'art contemporain in Montreal for the group show Piriti: Scène contemporaine autochtone in 2017. The piece evolved into an installation for Oboro, Montreal (2017) and Plug In ICA, Winnipeg (2018) respectively. 

In May 2019, the Belkin was happy to support Reece's idea to spend time with the people she invited to be wrapped, working with photographer Rachel Topham and videographer Peter Hagge to produce the photo series The Medicine Bag: Your Body (2019). Video documentation of the wrapping process, new video works Hold Me, Hold This and Master Gesture will be shown alongside Touch Me (2013).

Surrounded: Skeena Reece is made possible with the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council. We gratefully acknowledge the Morris and Helen Belkin Foundation, our Belkin Curator’s Forum members, and our individual donors who financially support our acquisitions and donate artworks to the collection. Special thanks to the UBC Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory for their support of this project.

Tours of Surrounded: Skeena Reece throughout the Summer

Saturdays and Sundays at 1 pm beginning July 27

Join Belkin staff for a free tour of the current exhibition on Saturdays and Sundays at 1 pm. Explore new video and photographic work by Skeena Reece, alongside her adult-sized cradleboard and moss bag, The Time It Takes (2017). To book a free weekday tour, email belkin.tours@ubc.ca