Kiona Ligtvoet

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Kiona Ligtvoet, "We Fell Asleep in Cold, Damp Grass," 2021

acrylic and graphite on canvas, 48" x 60" (courtesy Latitude 53; photo by Adam Waldron-Blain)

                                                           These are the things

                                                              they took from us –

                                                              They left us bare.

                                                    These are the things they couldn’t

                                                                 – Maureen Callihoo Ligtvoet

The title of Kiona Ligtvoet’s show, These Are the Things, on view at Latitude 53 in Edmonton until June 19, comes from a poem her mother wrote when she was in her late twenties, just a few years older than Ligtvoet is now.

Tenderness, care and a complicated sadness emanate from Ligtvoet’s paintings and prints, displayed with objects gathered from her family’s land. Her work, centred around memory, layers painted marks into glowing compositions.

Ligtvoet, of mixed Cree, Métis and Dutch heritage, is descended from the Michel First Nation, which the Canadian government involuntarily enfranchised in 1958, leading to the loss of band status and traditional lands northwest of Edmonton.

The government issued scrip – a document redeemable for land or its cash value – but the complicated and restrictive system left many people selling their scrip out of desperation for much less than it was worth. Ligtvoet’s moshom – grandfather in Cree – was the only member to retain his scrip land, so his farm became a meeting place for family and relations. In Ligtvoet’s words, it is “a space shared across generations.”

Objects in the exhibition, such as chairs, cinderblocks and a glass bottle, are from his farm. The painting We Fell Asleep in Cold, Damp Grass, for instance, is propped up on two chairs from a children’s playhouse used by generations of Ligtvoet's family. A striped blanket placed beneath it echoes the identical painted blanket, tying the actual object to the painted facsimile, physical reality to memory.

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Kiona Ligtvoet, “These Bottles Have Been Empty For Years,” 2021

acrylic and graphite on canvas, 60" x 48" (courtesy Latitude 53; photo by Adam Waldron-Blain)

The titles of Ligtvoet’s works are enigmatic, balancing a desire to share with a responsibility to protect the stories of others. In These Bottles Have Been Empty for Years, the figure on the left – a self-portrait – looks straight out at viewers, claiming their gaze.

Swelling is intimate and vulnerable. A grey-haired woman, depicted with a warm interplay of soft pink and yellow ochre, stares out with slightly unfocused eyes, not fully meeting our gaze. The transparent hair and skin have an ethereal quality. The work invites you to look closely.

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Kiona Ligtvoet, "Swelling," 2020

acrylic and graphite on canvas, 24" x 30" (courtesy Latitude 53; photo by Adam Waldron-Blain)

Included in the exhibition is a booklet written by Paxsi, an interdisciplinary artist of Aymara and Welsh-Irish descent. Paxsi and Ligtvoet have built kinship over the last few years. Both want displaced Indigenous folks to find comfort and care in the space.

In the stillness of the gallery, open by appointment for single-household groups only, there’s at once a grief for what colonialism has taken and a joyful celebration of moments and memories that have persisted. ■ 

Kiona Ligtvoet: These Are the Things at Latitude 53 in Edmonton from April 9 to June 19, 2021

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