Elisa Jane Carmichael. Yarabin (sea), 2021. cyanotype on cotton. 213 x 152cm. Photo: Louis Lim. Courtesy of the artist and Onespace Gallery.

 
Naadohbii: To Draw Water reflects on international Indigenous connections to water – spiritually, environmentally, socially, and culturally, looking into collective histories and fragilities of the future.
 
Naadohbii (pronounced NAH-DOH-BEY) is from Anishinaabemowin language and translates as “to draw/seek water.” The name was gifted by Elder Dr. Mary Courchene.
Featuring over 20 artists, including some newly commissioned pieces, Naadohbii: To Draw Water is tri-national, sharing interdisciplinary artwork from Turtle Island, Australia, and Aotearoa (New Zealand). This exhibition illustrates an axis of solidarity between Indigenous nations across the globe around environmental, political, and cultural traditions and interconnected relationships to water.
 
Women are traditional water carriers and givers of life. Indigenous peoples continue to be profoundly linked to water for physical and spiritual wellbeing; rivers, lakes, streams, and oceans have an impact on the health of global communities, and our relationship to the natural world. Water has become a pressing concern for the larger global community.
 
Naadohbii: To Draw Water considers the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as well as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action, recognizing the power of art in enacting change. This exhibition contributes dialogue towards water and our changing environment from an Indigenous perspective and with an international scope. Our world is profoundly linked to water in all forms for human and ecological survival. Water is sacred. Water is life.

The artists are William Noah, Jessie Oonark, Christi Belcourt, Rebecca Belmore, Lindsay Dawn Dobbin, Maria Hupfield, Marianne Nicolson, Onaman Collective (Christi Belcourt and Isaac Murdoch), Dr. Vicki Couzens, Ishmael Marika, James Tylor, Elisa Jane Carmichael, Nici Cumpston, Regina Pilawuk Wilson, Rex Greeno, Israel Birch, Nikau Hindin, Jeremy Leatinu’u, Nova Paul, Rachael Rakena, Keri Whaitiri.

The exhibition is a curatorial partnership project between Museums Victoria, Pātaka Art + Museum and Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG-Qaumajuq).

Naadohbii: To Draw Water is curated by Jaimie Isaac, Chief Curator Art Gallery Greater Victoria, Canada (formally Winnipeg Art Gallery curator of Indigenous & Contemporary Art), Kimberley Moulton, Senior Curator South Eastern Aboriginal Collections, Museums Victoria, Australia. Ioana Gordon-Smith, Curator (formally curator at Pātaka Art + Museum), and Reuben Friend, General Manager Community and Partnerships Porirua City Council (formally Director Pātaka Art + Museum).

 

VENUES AND DATES:

 

SOURCES: Winnipeg Art Gallery and Museums Victoria.