Anishinaabe artist Rebecca Belmore on beauty and horror
CBC Radio | Posted: May 22, 2014 4:00 AM | Last Updated: May 22, 2014
Jian speaks to Rebecca Belmore, one of Canada's most prominent contemporary artists, about her multi-disciplinary works, the issues that inspire them and the tension between beautiful art and horrific realities.Some of Belmore's most famous pieces address the Oka Crisis, the epidemic of missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada, and the freezing deaths of aboriginal people left out in the cold by police.
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In 2005, the Ontario-born, B.C.-based artist became the first indigenous woman to represent Canada at the prestigious Venice Biennale. In 2013, she was honoured with a Governor General's Award for her work -- an accolade, accepted before a towering portrait of Queen Elizabeth, that stirred conflicting feelings in her.
Her latest exhibition, Kwe, is presently on display at the Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival in Toronto.