Bill Reid Gallery: Royal Portrait — October 1, 2019–January 19, 2020
Event Ended- Where
- Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art - 639 Hornby Street, Vancouver, BC View Map
- When
- Website
- https://www.billreidgallery.ca/blogs/exhibitions-page/royal-portrait
The Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art presents Royal Portrait, a solo exhibition of carvings, jewellery, and portraits by Morgan Asoyuf (Tsm’syen) on display from October 1–January 19, 2020. Honouring the Indigenous matriarchs in her life, Asoyuf challenges the classical definition of the “royal portrait” with new photographs of activists wearing crowns, frontlets, and headdresses. Presented alongside more than 30 pieces of wood, silver, and gold metalwork, the portraits will be contextualized with historic and contemporary Tsimshian cultural treasures. Asoyuf questions colonial understandings of power and leadership in her artistic practice, highlighting the Indigenous meaning of “royalty” as one closely tied to stewardship of the environment and compassion for others.