TETHER

 
 
 

TETHER

June 25 - August 26, 2022
Curated by Darcie “Ouiyaghasiak” Bernhardt, Leanne Inuarak-Dall, Teresa Vander Meer-Chassé, Heather Von Steinhagen
Yukon Arts Centre, Whitehorse, YK

In collaboration with our partners at the Yukon Arts Center, TETHER is an exhibition of more than fifty artworks by Northern Indigenous artists whose works display the complex and inseparable bonds across diverse lands, waters, nations and peoples. The four-person curatorial team includes two Inuit Futures Ilinniaqtuit, Leanne Inuarak-Dall and Darcie “Ouiyaghasiak” Bernhardt (Inuit Futures alumni), and two local First Nations curator-artists, Teresa Vander Meer-Chassé and Heather Steinhagen. The co-curators are working under the guidance and mentorship of Dr. Heather Igloliorte, Inuit Futures Project Director and Chair of Programming and Coordinating Producer for the Arctic Arts Summit.

Curatorial Statement 

TETHER, a featured visual art exhibition of the 2022 Arctic Arts Summit, is a gathering of artworks by Northern Indigenous artists whose practices integrate the complex and inseparable bonds we, as Indigenous peoples of the circumpolar Arctic/Subarctic, have with one another and to the lands, waters, and skies. Northern Indigenous Peoples share connections through intersecting lineages of traditions, histories, and creative innovations. What does it mean to be from the North? Through our intersectional and interwoven understandings we have come to the conclusion that there are meaningful threads between regions and communities across the Yukon, NWT, and Inuit Nunangat. The exhibiting artists use their work as a tool of sovereignty and a way to connect us to the past, present and future. In TETHER, we web together artworks and artists, traversing across time and space, that offer us moments of reflection and kinship. TETHER celebrates the knowledge of tools, wisdom, and stories within the artwork and the land that nurtured and carried—and continues to carry—each of these artists and our shared practices and knowledge, forward. 

TETHER highlights our secured connection to place, where our spirits and the sacred remain ever-changing and fluid. TETHER reminds us of the tension and flexibility encompassed within the sense of Northern Indigeneity. In TETHER we include both living and ancestor artists, celebrating the artists of the past while also following those threads into the future. In bringing together both historical and contemporary works from seven collections of national significance as well as the opportunity to commission artists working in both customary and digital media, we carefully curated works that reflect the breadth and richness of culture in the North. We transform the gallery space into an embodiment of our hearts, homes, and subtle comforts. TETHER is a visual representation of our communities and cultures. As Northern Indigenous Peoples ourselves, it is important to illustrate what makes us, us. No matter where we are in the world, we are all tethered to our sense of place.

 
 
Featured
Darcie “Ouiyaghasiak” Bernhardt is an Inuvialuk/Gwichin artist from Tuktuyaaqtuuq, NT and alumna of NSCADU in 2019 (BFA). Raised in Tuktuyaaqtuuq where the ocean’s harsh winds carve into the Western Arctic landscape, Bernhardt has a special bond c

Darcie “Ouiyaghasiak” Bernhardt is an Inuvialuk/Gwichin artist from Tuktuyaaqtuuq, NT and alumna of NSCADU in 2019 (BFA). Raised in Tuktuyaaqtuuq where the ocean’s harsh winds carve into the Western Arctic landscape, Bernhardt has a special bond created from this ecosystem to their family and sense of place. Their practice has primarily focused on the narrative of domestic life in the North stemming from memories of home. Their first solo painting show, titled Akisuktuaq, was shown at Feheley Fine Art gallery in June 2021. Their group exhibition, called Family Patterns, alongside Letitia Fraser was on view at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia until February 2022. Bernhardt’s work was installed at Nuit Blanche (Montreal, 2019) as a part of GLAM Collective’s Memory Keepers I residency, and they were the curatorial assistant for Memory Keepers II at Art in the Open.

Leanne Inuarak-Dall is an emerging Inuk and settler multidisciplinary artist, writer and curator based on the unceded Coast Salish Territories (Vancouver, BC). Through collage, textiles, beadwork and sculpture, her work seeks to articulate the sto

Leanne Inuarak-Dall is an emerging Inuk and settler multidisciplinary artist, writer and curator based on the unceded Coast Salish Territories (Vancouver, BC). Through collage, textiles, beadwork and sculpture, her work seeks to articulate the stories embedded in materials and her experience as an urban Inuk raised in the South. Her work has been featured in UofTMed Magazine, along with audio contributions to Nagvaaqtavut | What We Found for WAG-Qaumajuq. She is currently completing her studies in Fine Arts at Langara College and works as a contributing editor for the Inuit Art Quarterly.

Teresa Vander Meer-Chassé , affectionately known as Ddhälh kit Nelnah, is a proud Niisüü member of White River First Nation (Beaver Creek, Yukon and Alaska). She is an Upper Tanana and mixed heritage visual artist, emerging curator and Master of Fi

Teresa Vander Meer-Chassé, affectionately known as Ddhälh kit Nelnah, is a proud Niisüü member of White River First Nation (Beaver Creek, Yukon and Alaska). She is an Upper Tanana and mixed heritage visual artist, emerging curator and Master of Fine Arts student at Concordia University in Studio Arts. Her visual arts practice is invested in the awakening of sleeping materials and the (re)animation of found objects. Her curatorial practice focuses on filling gaps and writing new narratives that highlight the importance of representation and visibility of Northern Indigenous peoples. She was the curator of We Are Our Language (2019), Emerging North (2020), and co-curator for Elemental Transformations (2021). Teresa currently sits on the board of the Indigenous Curatorial Collective/Collectif des commissaires autochtones.

Homegrown from Whitehorse, Yukon, Heather Steinhagen is an “artist of sorts” with Cowessess First Nation (mother) and German roots (father, 2nd gen. Canadian). Heather’s passion for supporting creative innovation and community-building drives her

Homegrown from Whitehorse, Yukon, Heather Steinhagen is an “artist of sorts” with Cowessess First Nation (mother) and German roots (father, 2nd gen. Canadian). Heather’s passion for supporting creative innovation and community-building drives her career and art practice. She exhibits regularly and is often working on challenging and creative projects such as Indigenize Wikipedia (2018) and participating in talks like Becoming a Working Artist (2021). Heather has collected a Visual Arts Diploma (Vancouver Island University, 2014) and a Bachelor of Fine Arts, focusing on Community-based Arts Education (Concordia, 2017). Heather has worked as an Arts Administrator for the Yukon Arts Centre (2015 & 2018), Government of Yukon Tourism and Culture (2017), is the former Executive Director of the Yukon Arts Society (2020) and is the current Craft Content Developer at the Canadian Crafts Federation.