Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill

The sculptural work of Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill explores the fallacies embedded in colonial concepts of property, economy and family. Her works frequently frame Western systems of capitalism and control as both imposed and impermanent, emphasizing the endurance, power and radical potential of other surviving knowledges and economic practices. Often engaging the physical, historical or symbolic properties of the materials she works with, past projects have seen Hill variously use tobacco, found objects and deaccessioned museum artifacts to consider questions of labour, land, value, and reciprocity.

At the Contemporary Art Gallery, Hill presents *M******, a project that deepens the artist’s long-term inquiry into structures of kinship. Bringing together a suite of new works in sculpture, drawing and cameraless cinema, the exhibition sees Hill reflecting expansively on economies of parenting and reproductive labour. Harnessing references ranging from spores and parasites to Nadya “Octomom” Suleman, these works gesture toward an experience of motherhood that is multiplicitous, non-linear and visceral, both bound to and more than the limits and binaries frequently invoked by the word “Mother.”

#### Biography
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill is an artist and writer. Her practice explores the history of found materials to enquire into concepts of land, property, and economy. Recent exhibitions include the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the 59th Venice Biennale; Le Magasin CNAC, Grenoble; the Vancouver Art Gallery; the College Art Galleries at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon; and Gallery TPW, Toronto. She is a member of BUSH gallery, an Indigenous artist collective that seeks to challenge Eurocentric art models, and to centre the land and Indigenous epistemologies. Hill is Cree and English, with maternal roots in the Michel Band and Papaschase. She lives on the unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm and səlilwətaɬ Nations.


CAG Summer 2023 Program Guide - Web.pdf

CAG - Gabe Hill - Exhibition Guide - Regular Print - Web.pdf

CAG - Gabe Hill - Exhibition Guide - Large Print - Web.pdf

Several strips of hand-treated pint film with holes like cigarette burns are displayed on a white surface.

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Process image, Gabe Hill.jpg

Two wire sculptures that stand slanted, with mobiles build into the top. Strawberries and pictures cut out from magazines hang from the wires.

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01 Gabrielle L'Hirondelle Hill 2023.jpg

Paper cutouts and a strawberries hang from thin metal wires.

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02 Gabrielle L'Hirondelle Hill 2023.jpg

Paper cutouts and a strawberry hang from thin metal wires.

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03 Gabrielle L'Hirondelle Hill 2023.jpg

Paper cutouts, including a woman's face, hang from a latice of thin metal wires, with clear plastic doilies threaded around several joints.

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04 Gabrielle L'Hirondelle Hill 2023.jpg

Paper cutouts hang from thin metal wires, most prominently a photo of a woman's face.

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Framed collage with a smeared pink background and small images cut out from magazines arranged in swirls.

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Paper cutouts hang from thin metal wires in the foreground, with a framed pink collage in the background.

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A framed collage with a pink background and drawn lines concentrically repeating edges of the collage into the centre of the image.

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Three framed pink collages on a white wall.

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A framed collage with a pink background with small burn holes running up and down collage in columns.

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Two framed pink collages on a white wall perpendicular to a doorway leading into a dark room with a sculpture made of stacked chairs supporting a film projector visible.

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A sculpture made of stacked chairs supporting a film projector. A pink t-shirt lines the top chair that the projector sits on, and runnings shoes support the bottom chair.

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Four running shoes supporting at its corners a stack of chairs.

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Two projections on a dark wall. The left projection, which is bigger than the right one, features a pink background with red outlined circle. The right projection features black vertical lines running from the bottom to top of the frame.

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A sculpture made of stacked chairs supporting a film projector in a dark room facing two projections on a dark wall.

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M*****

Lotus L. Kang

Unfolding across sculpture, installation, drawing, and photography, the practice of Lotus L. Kang takes up questions of “becoming” on expansive terms. Known for her use of unstable, continuously sensitive materials and a visual language that melds structural, organic and entropic forms, Kang’s dexterously layered works explore self and environment as contingent, continuous and inseparable. 

At the Contemporary Art Gallery, Kang presents her most recent installation, *In Cascades*, a scaffold of industrial steel joists sheathed with lengths of unfixed photographic films. Presented in a palette of visceral hues, these films — described by the artist as “skins” — remain sensitive to their environment, developing over the course of the exhibition as they’re exposed to the light and humidity of the gallery. A series of intimate sculptures punctuate the installation, provisional, often changeable forms in arrangements that nod to processes of reproduction, exchange, inheritance, and transformation.

Alongside *In Cascades*, Kang will present a suite of new public-facing works on the façade of the gallery’s Nelson Street building and at nearby Yaletown-Roundhouse Station.

*In Cascades* is co-commissioned by Chisenhale Gallery, London, and the Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver.

#### Biography
Lotus L. Kang (b. 1985, Toronto) lives and works in New York. Her recent exhibitions include the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Mercer Union SPACE, Toronto; Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY;  the 2021 New Museum Triennial, New York; SculptureCenter, New York; Remai Modern, Saskatoon; and Oakville Galleries. In 2022, Kang was the inaugural resident of Horizon Art Foundation, Los Angeles and was also in residence at Triangle Arts Association, New York. She has also been artist-in-residence at Rupert Vilnius; The Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity, Alberta; and Interstate Projects, Brooklyn. She holds an MFA from the Milton Avery School of the Arts at Bard College.


CAG - Lotus L. Kang - Exhibition Guide - Large Print.pdf

CAG Fall 2023 Program Guide.pdf

CAG - Lotus L. Kang - Exhibition Guide - Regular Print (1).pdf

Long earth tone sheets of film of various colours suspended from metal ceiling beams. A small box supporting three fruit is visible between two perpendicular sheets of film.

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2023_Lotus_Laurie_Kang_CAG_1.jpg

Long earth tone sheets of film of various colours suspended from industrial steel ceiling beams. 

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01 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

A wide view of long earth tone sheets of film of various colours suspended from industrial steel ceiling beams. 

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02 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

Long earth tone sheets of film of various colours are suspended from the ceiling. A sculpture, made of tatami mats and cast aluminium objects, sits against a white wall in the background.⁠

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Folded tatami mats are stacked against a white wall with cast aluminium objects visible between the folds of the mats.

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Folded tatami mats are stacked against a white wall with cast aluminium objects, silicone and nylon visible between the mats and the wall.

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Long earth tone sheets of film of various colours are suspended from industrial metal ceiling beams. Two sculptures, made of tatami mats and cast aluminium objects, sit on the cement floor in the background. Large windows are visible near the ceiling.

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06 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

A yellow-coloured cast glass sculpture depicting three rat pups sits near the edge of the floor and the wall.

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Long earth tone sheets of film of various colours are suspended from the ceiling. Two sculptures, made of tatami mats and cast aluminium objects, sit on the cement floor.

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08 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

Edge of a suspended sheet of film visible on the right of the photo, in the centre lies a partially unfolded patterned tatami mat with silver discs arranged in a curved line on its surface.

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09 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

Detail view of a patterned tatami mat with one bronze and ten silver discs arranged in a curved line on its surface. The edge of a manila envelope is tucked underneath the mat.

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A yellow-coloured cast glass sculpture depicting a rat pup sits near the intersection of the floor and a wall.

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12 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

Three fruit wrapped in green tissue sit on folded tatami mats wrapped in silicone on a concrete floor in front of suspended sheets of film.

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Silver sculptures hanging in a vertical arrangement from a string are surrounded by hanging sheets of photographic film in various earth tones.

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Silver sculptures hanging in a vertical arrangement from a string cast shadows on a hanging sheet of yellow photographic film.

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Long earth tone sheets of film of various colours suspended from industrial steel ceiling beams. In the foreground silver sculptures hang in a vertical arrangement from a string. 

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16 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

Long earth tone sheets of film of various colours suspended from metal ceiling beams. A small box supporting three fruit is visible between two perpendicular sheets of film. A sculpture of tatami mats and cast aluminum objects sits in the background.

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17 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

A brown-coloured cast glass sculpture resembling two rat pups sits near the edge of the floor and the wall.

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Long earth tone sheets of film of various colours are suspended from industrial steel ceiling beams. The edge of one sheet is visible along the side of the image.

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A sculpture, made of small pieces of silver and silicone, sits on a concrete floor surrounded by large sheets of suspended photographic film that curl at the ends.

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20 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

A sculpture, made of small pieces of silver and silicone, sits on a concrete floor casting a reflection on the bottom edge of a large sheet of suspended photographic film.

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21 Lotus L. Kang 2023.jpg

Long earth tone sheets of film of various colours are suspended from industrial steel ceiling beams. On the floor near the back of the room sits an unfolded tatami mat with cast aluminium sculptures laying flat over it. 

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Two silver discs depicting lotus roots are perched inside of an industrial steel beam with silicone wrapping one side.

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A copper sheet of film is suspended from the ceiling. On the floor sits an unfolded tatami mat with cast aluminium sculptures laying flat over it. Sunlight from the window is refracted on the white wall behind both sculptures.

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Detail of cast aluminium cabbage sculptures sitting on a flat tatami mat. 

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A small gold sculpture resembling a lotus root is wedged between a cement wall and white drywall.

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"CAG’s façade with Lotus L. Kang's Synapse across eight street-facing windows. The artworks are photograms, each depicting nylon produce bags against backgrounds of various neon colours. "

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"A pair of windows featuring a pair of photograms depicting nylon mesh produce bags against neon orange backgrounds."

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Three windows featuring three photograms depicting nylon mesh produce bags against neon photographic paper. From left to right the photograms colours' vary from orange to pink and red.

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"CAG’s entrance doors. Windows on either side feature photograms depicting nylon produce bags stretched against photographic paper in tones of pink and red."

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"A pair of windows featuring a pair of photograms depicting nylon produce bags in neon pink and red colours. "

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"A frontal view of a SkyTrain station with three photograms in its windows depicting mesh nylon bags against neon photographic paper. The left photogram resembles an orange X. The centre is red and pink. The right photogram is green and yellow "

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A diagonal view of a SkyTrain station with four photograms in its windows, each depicting various forms of nylon mesh bags against neon photographic paper.

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A frontal view of a SkyTrain station with one photogram in its window. The photogram depicts a yellow nylon produce bag against dark photographic paper.

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In Cascades

Sesemiya

For more than twenty years, Sesemiya (Tracy Williams) has been engaged with the revitalization of Coast Salish cultural practices. Through research, collaborative experimentation and consultation with Knowledge Keepers, Sesemiya’s work embodies her deep knowledge of Coast Salish lands. A fifth-generation cedar weaver, the objects she makes extend directly from her practice of gathering and preparing wild materials. 
 
Sesemiya presents at the Contemporary Art Gallery *s7ulh waḵáy̓stn iy ta stamsh cht* (Our Weapons and Warriors), a new body of work that sees the artist engaging the theme of land defence. Employing materials such as cedar slats and roots, fishskin leather, animal bones, and synthetic human skin, the exhibition alludes to the figure of a Sḵwx̱wú7mesh warrior in traditional accoutrement, armed with tools for battle. While the tools Sesemiya has recreated are anachronistic in nature, the project of cultural revitalization they result from is vitally urgent. *s7ulh waḵáy̓stn iy ta stamsh cht* proposes traditional ways of living, knowing, and being with the land to themselves be acts of resistance to the ongoing colonial occupation of unsurrendered Sḵwx̱wú7mesh lands, in the artist’s words, “inspiring the future generations of stelmexw to *tl’a7ashen ta nexwniẁ-chet* (celebrate our teachings that make us who we are).”

#### Biography
Sesemiya (Tracy Williams) is a knowledge seeker, dreamer, water protector, land defender, lover, mother, auntie, weaver, and cultural practitioner. Her rich relationships with plants, animals, land, and water have taken her to the tops of mountains, the bottom of the ocean, fields of fireweed, and occasionally art galleries. Her work has appeared in exhibitions such as *lineages and land bases*, Vancouver Art Gallery (2020); *Intangible: Memory and Innovation in Coast Salish Art*, Bill Reid Gallery (2017); and *N. Vancouver*, The Polygon Gallery (2017). In 2021, a commissioned work of Sesemiya’s was included in the Vancouver Art Gallery’s presentation of Yoko Ono’s *Water Event*. Sesemiya is a proud member of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) Nation.


CAG - Sesemiya - Exhibition Guide - Regular Print - Web.pdf

CAG - Sesemiya - Exhibition Guide - Large Print - Web.pdf

A carved stone wrapped with a rope displayed on a wooden surface.

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Stone Necklace.jpg

clothing, armour and weapons belonging to a Squamish warrior in a room with dark grey walls, with a white wall in the foreground with the artist's name and exhibition's title printed on it. 

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01 Sesemiya 2023.jpg

rear view of clothing, armour and weapons belonging to a Squamish warrior, suspended in mid-air and arranged to look like an exploded view diagram. a hide war robe is most prominent; an antler and stone club is also visible from the side.

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02 Sesemiya 2023.jpg

side view of clothing, armour and weapons belonging to a Squamish warrior, suspended in mid-air and arranged to look like an exploded view diagram. coiled cedar rope, war whoop and a knife in a sheath are visible from the side.

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03 Sesemiya 2023.jpg

frontal photo of clothing, armour and weapons belonging to a Squamish warrior, most prominently a headpiece made of cedar boughs, cedar breastplate, war apron, sneakers made from tanned hide, and arm and leg covers made fishskin leather

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04 Sesemiya 2023.jpg

a suspended envelope-shaped bag made of tanned leather suspended between the edges of a hide robe and cedar war apron and breastplate. the bag is fringed on its right and left edges and on the edge of the flap, and held closed by a small bone.

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05 Sesemiya 2023.jpg

a cedar breastplate with owl feathers and talons hanging from its front face, tanned hide leather straps, and a bear tooth necklace and beaver spine necklace suspended in front of it

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a pair of fishskin leather leg covers suspended behind the bottom of a cedar war apron. the knees of the leg covers feature a zig-zag patterned shape

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07 Sesemiya 2023.jpg

a pair of converse all-star-style sneakers made from tanned hide, suspended several inches above a concrete floor. the sneakers' soles resemble moccasins.

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the bottom half of a fishskin leather arm cover, arranged to look as if it's holding a wooden shaft. the hand of the arm cover bears a zig-zag patterned shape. fish scales are visible in the texture of arm cover throughout.