Terrance Houle - iitahwáákomímmotsiiyo’p: what makes us love each other

Expand

Terrance Houle, "itahwáákomímmotsiiyo’p: what makes us love each other," poster

Artist reception at Happenings #9 on Mezzanine Level of Arts

Commons on August 18 from 6-9pm

Arts Commons Presents a special installation and artist residency from prolific Canadian artist Terrance Houle in The Ledge Gallery, exploring indigenous love through family, story, connections and history.

iitahwáákomímmotsiiyo’p: what makes us love each other consists of installation, performance actions, audio, video and music to evoke the theme of indigenous love. The project is influenced by Houle’s father (Ojibway) and mother’s (Blackfoot) relationship and love, who are both third-generation residential school attendees and met in 1973 in Calgary.

In 2005, Houle’s mother was diagnosed with cancer, soon after his father made a commitment to “Sundance” for his wife. Houles father committed to this ceremonial dance for 10 years in the hope that his wife would recover from her illness. “iitahwáákomímmotsiiyo’p” is in literal terms meaning “love medicine” or “what makes us love each other” in Houles Blackfoot language.