Please take your Indian name: Artist explores beauty, humour, and identity politics in Montreal exhibition - Action News
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Indigenous

Please take your Indian name: Artist explores beauty, humour, and identity politics in Montreal exhibition

Atikamekw artist Meky Ottawa's exhibition Nehirowisidigital is part of the programming for the upcoming Montreal First Peoples Festival.

Atikamekw artist Meky Ottawa's exhibition is part of the Montreal First Peoples Festival

(Jessica Deer/CBC)

Heavy drum.

White torso, brown arms.

Slowest hunter.

Tax payer.

White Indian.

These are just some of the "Indian names" emerging Atikamekw artist Meky Ottawa is asking people to take through an art installation of tearaway flyers at Montreal gallery La Guilde.

Some of the names are cheesy tropes, others are jokes or words in Atikamekw, while some touch on Indigenous identity politics.

"It's my way of decolonizing, in a funny way. It's a sensitive subject for some people but we need to talk about this," said Ottawa, who is from Manawan, Que.

"It's like a frybread fortune. I want to put people in a good mood, make them laugh."

The installation is based on Indian Names, 2017, ink jet print on paper, 36 x 27 inch. (Jessica Deer/CBC)

The installation is based on Indian Names, one of 10 works on paperfeatured in the exhibitionNehirowisidigital. It's the 29-year-oldmultidisciplinary artist's first solo exhibition in Montreal and is part of this year's programming for the Montreal First Peoples Festival.

First Peoples Festival programming

The annual festival takes placeAug. 6-14.Andr Dudemaineis the director of Land InSights, the organization behind the the festival.

Andr Dudemaine and Meky Ottawa at the preview of Nehirowisidigital. ( La Guilde)

He saw Ottawa's work at theMuse amrindien de Mashteuiatshlast summer and wanted to bring the show to Montreal. Ottawa added new piecesand worked on a new presentation something Dudemaine said deeply reflects her Atikamekw identity.

"Atikamekw are very stubborn, forceful but never raise their voice. They're very quiet and say things very calmly," he said.

"In Meky's work, you can see all the suffering First Nations went through, but at the same time, it's a smiling and soft voice to tell those truths. The contrast is interesting."

Ottawasaid her work offers a glimpse into her imagination, her community, her feminist perspectiveand life as an urban Indigenous woman.

Mos, 2017, ink jet print on paper, 32 x 48 inch. (Meky Ottawa)

"Through still or moving images, I use line, colour and also symbols to communicate what I find beautiful, funny or sensitive," said Ottawa.

"The creative process allows me to discover myself, to know myself better, but also to make a part of my cultural heritage known to others."

The self-taught multidisciplinary artist works with video, illustration and installation.

Ickwecic matcike ickinikcic, 2017, ink jet print on paper, 40x 60 inch. (Meky Ottawa)

While Nehirowisidigital is Ottawa's first solo exhibition in Montreal, her work has also been featured in Working It Out Together magazine,productions by Rezolution Pictures such as the 2017 filmRumble: the Indians Who Rocked the World, and most recently designed MU's Montreal mural honouring Abenaki filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin, unveiled last fall.

"I just want to see more Indigenous people's work in the city, in galleries, on walls and everywhere," said Ottawa.