\u201cRegina has a huge Indigenous population, especially in the downtown core,\u201d explains Minifie. \u201cThere\u2019s a lack of representation visually.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Jennifer Matotek\u2014Dunlop Art Gallery\u2019s director and co-author of the exhibit\u2019s corresponding book\u2014had been working to increase representation of Indigenous artists within the space when Minifie pitched the idea to her. The show took two years to put together and has toured for three and a half years. Exploring the connection between oral and visual culture, When Raven Became Spider<\/i> expands on the relationship between these two mediums with a pop-culture context. Traditional stories are always represented in visual culture; artists use them to create totem poles, carvings, and regalia.<\/p>\n \u201cThe next oral [storyteller] that comes up is then able to refer to [the art] and explain, so it\u2019s always interplaying and also informing each other,\u201d says Minifie. \u201cThrough oral stories, through visual, through oral again\u2026 that\u2019s how our culture has played out for thousands of years.\u201d<\/p>\n While this style is a departure from traditional Indigenous art, pop culture and the superhero genre cannot be removed from our collective experience. All of the artists in the show grew up being influenced by comics and cartoons. It\u2019s apropos that the questions the show now raises for its curator are also informed by our cultural climate. The titular character, the Raven, is a narcissistic trickster, portrayed by artist Sonny Assu as Spider-Man. If he came through today, Minifie could see the Raven as an Instagram influencer. Yet, in this age of hyperreality, this exhibit also confronts us with the question of balance.<\/p>\n \u201cRaven has Eagle as a counterpart,\u201d says Minifie. \u201cEagle is wise, quiet, and kind of more stoic\u2026 always chastising Raven for his ways. Part of me doing When Raven Became Spider<\/i> made me realize I\u2019ve left Eagle behind. Where is the room for Eagle in this world of overtalking and narcissism and fake news?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Throughout the tour, the show takes on a different meaning based on the geographical and political landscape of the current city. In the prairies, with systems that are more male dominated, the work is read as very feminist; in Ontario, it\u2019s seen as a statement on the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women. There\u2019s no escaping the political nature of the work, whether or not the art was originally meant as a political statement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBeing born Indigenous means being born political,\u201d says Minifie. \u201cThere\u2019s no way of avoiding that.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout her career, Minifie has been labeled \u201cradical\u201d as a way to dismiss her work. Now, with much of Canada catching up to her recognition of the unfair treatment and oppression of Indigenous people, that label may apply more aptly to the idea of comic-book art in art galleries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMixing pop culture with Indigenous super beings [brings] levity and is also very family friendly, and I have no qualms about being what people call [a] \u2018not high art show,\u2019\u201d Minifie says with a laugh. \u201cI can be radical or not a high-art curator, there will always be something that keeps me on the outside, and that\u2019s where the fun is\u2026 The liminal space is always more fascinating to me.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/The-Time-Traveler-2015-Shaun-Beyale.jpg\")
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