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FOLLOW US
March 04, 2026
The Resurgence of Traditional Media and Acts of "Doing" in Contemporary Indigenous Art
with Sherry Farrell Racette (Métis, Anishinaabe-Algonquin, and Irish)
Professor, Department of Visual Arts, Faculty of Media, Art and Performance, University of Regina
In Learning Together (2013) Keith Goulet unpacks Nehiyawak concepts of knowledge as a merger of doing, being, becoming and acting. His analysis helps us understand beadwork’s transformative shift from community spaces to art galleries, and the revitalization of hand-tanned hide, porcupine quillwork and tufting. Artists are leading a virtual explosion of collaborative reclamation, opening galleries, residencies, and studios to the big, messy, labour-intensive practices of processing natural materials. They are merging spaces of artmaking, language-learning, and education with the broader task of activating Indigenous knowledge in the 21st century. It is a future-focused practice with roots in the past.
This lecture will take place on March 4, 2026 at 6:30pm in the Skylight Gallery at WAG-Quamajuq. It’s part of WAG Wednesday Nights, with free admission to the galleries from 5-9pm. There will be light refreshments available from Feast Cafe Bistro starting at 6pm.
This is a free event. No registration is required.
About the Presenter
Sherry Farrell Racette is an interdisciplinary scholar with an active artistic and curatorial practice. She was born in Manitoba and is a member of Timiskaming First Nation in Quebec. Her work as a cultural historian is grounded in extensive work in archives and museum collections with an emphasis on Indigenous women and recovering aesthetic knowledge. Beadwork and stitch-based work is important to her artistic practice, creative research, and pedagogy.
Photo credit for headshot: Nadya Kwandibens
This event is a collaboration between the Centre for Human Rights Research, Women’s and Gender Studies, the Department of Indigenous Studies, and the School of Art at the University of Manitoba and WAG-Qaumajuq. Funding provided by the UM Distinguished Visiting Lecturer Program.
