ACTING UP: Performing the Indian

Exhibition

21 January - 04 March 2011

Curatorial Lecture by Rosalie Favell

20 January, 7PM [Aqua Books, 274 Garry Street]

Opening Reception

Friday 21 January, 7PM

Artist Talk with Jackie Traverse

Saturday 19 February, 3PM

PLATFORM centre for photographic + digital arts is pleased to present the group exhibition, Acting Up: Performing the Indian, guest-curated by Rosalie Favell, and featuring work in photography and video by leading and emerging contemporary artists of aboriginal decent.

Acting Up: Performing the Indian will focus on how Aboriginal artists, both in the past and the present, have used photographic space as a performative arena in which to explore issues of identity and culture. Works in photography and video by contemporary artists such as Jeff Thomas, Kent Monkman, Lori Blondeau, Shelley Niro, Adrian Stimson, Larry McNeil, Jackie Traverse, and Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie, will be brought together with historic representations of Esther Deer, or Princess White Deer as she was known, as well as Pauline Johnson and Molly Spotted Elk, to show an extended engagement of aboriginal peoples with the camera. In the early period, aboriginal performers manipulated their largely non-aboriginal audience’s expectation of “Indianness” as a way to communicate their ambiguous position of engaging with modernity while safeguarding aspects of their traditions and heritage.

Please join us Friday 21 January for the opening reception of Acting Up: Performing the Indian beginning at 7PM, refreshments will be served.

As an artist-run centre, PLATFORM acknowledges the support of its membership, Board of Directors, staff, and partners in presentation. Operating and project assistance for PLATFORM programming is provided by: Manitoba Arts Council, Winnipeg Arts Council, The Winnipeg Foundation, and The W.H. & S.E. Loewen Foundation. Acting Up: Performing the Indian is presented in partnership with Close Encounters: The Next 500 Years.

For more information about this exhibition or other PLATFORM programming, please contact the Centre directly: PLATFORM | 121-100 Arthur Street [Artspace Building] | Winnipeg, Manitoba | R3B 1H3 | 204.942.8183 | www.platformgallery.org hours: 12PM-5PM, Tuesday - Saturday

Programming events, including exhibitions, screenings, talks, and lectures at PLATFORM are always free!