Art Exploration Assignment: -muit Mitchell Art Gallery

How is the artist using Indigenous ways of knowing through their art?

What was your experience like while attending the performance or viewing?

I went to the Mitchell Art Gallery’s newest exhibition “-miut”, a gallery that asks the question
what it is like to be Inuit while living in Treaty 6 and 7 territory. I found this exhibit to be a great
tie-in with this week module as it directly deals with how people connect with and share their
personal ways of knowing. For these Inuit artists they are sharing with their audience what it
means to be Inuit ranging from the land they come from, the artforms, traditions, ceremonies,
and even everyday activities like grocery shopping. In this exhibit we are invited to examine their
story, perspectives, and relationships. It is very powerful and truthful. Not only do we see their
ways of knowing related to how they perceive their Inuit identity, but also what that means to be
living on Treaty 6 and 7 land. This ultimately shapes their ways of knowing, relationships are
changed and meaning is made. In this multidisciplinary exhibit we the viewer are shown diverse
artforms that reflect the varied ways of knowing.

Getting to explore this exhibit was really interesting and cemented a lot of the ideas we have
been discussing this term. When thinking Indigenous identity, there can be a tendency to forget
about Inuit identities, however this exhibit places this group of people at the forefront of our
minds. Even though I am of settler descent, I found this exhibit to be easy for me to connect
with. We all have at some point in our lives felt like an outsider, not fully settled where we are, or
different, and “-muit” captured these feelings. I am so glad that the Mitchell Art Gallery is
programming art galleries that deal with such interesting subject matter. I think that by showing
many different artist’s work in the exhibit is a great way to showcase range and diversity in ways
of knowing! I am reminded by this exhibit that the land we live on is not truly ours, that we are
lucky to be on land, and it is so important to share our ways of knowing with others.

Photo credit: Blaine Campbell

https://mitchellartgallery.macewan.ca/miut