Indigenous, two-spirit artist uses artifacts from the streets of Windsor in new gallery exhibit

Indigenous, non-binarymultimedia artist Ostoro Petahtegoose is using objects from Windsor's alleyways in their latest exhibit to explore themes of kinship, community and identity.

Petahtegoose, who identifies as a two-spirit Anishinaabe of Atikameksheng Anishnawbek, transgender and non-binary artist, became Artcite Inc.'s first artist-in-residence on Aug. 6.

"I wasn't planning on getting this opportunity, I thought it was going to go to somebody else," Petahtegoose said. "Just even being allowed into a space like this is just such an exciting opportunity for someone like me, but at the same time there's also a little bit of anxiety attached to that.

"Being the first person in this residency means I'm setting the precedent, so that's a lot to take in."

Indigenous, non-binary multimedia artist Ostoro Petahtegoose talks about their residency and art exhibit

4 years ago

Duration 2:02

Petahtegoose says their exhibit is 'evolving,' so new pieces will be added throughout the month

Artcite Inc. programming coordinator Imogen Clendinning said the residencyprogram is something the gallery hopes tooffer annuallyto local artists.

"Projects such as these will allow for the ability for Windsor-Essex artists, Black artists, Indigenous artists, marginalized voices to be able to hone their craft and be able to create work in a space," she said. "We wanted to really support that as well as share [Petahtegoose's] story and their voice and their creative practice."

Exhibit explores community and identity in spaces

Themes of community and identity that Petahtegoose is exploring in their month-long exhibit connect back to broader societal discussions and movements taking place around racism.

Their art, they said, will hopefully help keep the conversation and momentum going on this issue.

"We're looking at a national call across the board to really defund institutionalized racism. The racism that exists systemically within institutions, within organizations," they said, adding that although there is a lot of attention being paid to the topic right now, they worry that "it's only temporary."

Petahtegoose's exhibit involves them taking objects from abandoned or neglected sites in Windsor-Essex and arranging them in the Artcite gallery space.

They gathered pieces from alleyways and are analyzingthe waythese objects interact with each other, the environment they are in and what these objects say about the location they came from.

"[With] neglected and abandoned spaces there's barriers to accessing them, I mean you look at the homeless and a lot of the homeless get chased out of these spaces and then they get pushed out and they can never really access any of these spaces, but I want to be here challenging that notion because we can exist as a community within these spaces, we can create community within these spaces," Petahtegoose said.

It's about pushing back against the idea that people don't belong in certain spaces, they added, while also presenting futures for Indigenous and queer people.

They said their exhibit will be constantly evolving and changing as the days go by to represent that environments, like art, "are never stable."

The exhibitwill be available to the public until Sept.6.