Alanis Obomsawin Exhibition the First to Celebrate the Abenaki Artist’s Life Work

The exhibition will span Obomsawin’s practice as a visual artist, activist, filmmaker and singer-songwriter for audiences in Canada and Germany.

Indigenous artist’s oeuvre deserves critical reflection

The Art Museum at the University of Toronto and Haus der Kulteren der Welt (HKW) in Berlin are co-producing the first major exhibition of the rich and complex work of senior Abenaki artist Alanis Obomsawin. The exhibition will run in Germany between December 2021 and March 2022. Obomsawin’s drawings, memorabilia and archive will help display the resilience of Indigenous communities in the face of the continued violence of colonization, systematic racism and dispossession.

Developing a German audience for contemporary Indigenous art

The partnership with HKW is an opportunity to contribute to the discourse in Europe on global Indigenous perspectives. Curators are paying special attention to how Obomsawin’s commitment to activism and art-making has responded to changing sociopolitical realities. The exhibition will travel to Canada in 2022. Engagements are scheduled for the Art Museum, in Toronto, and at Simon Fraser University galleries in Burnaby and Vancouver.