Event Info
Naomi Kennedy & Lindsay Delorande : Loqua - Chastity, Destiny, Coleen:
Lindsay Delaronde (Mohawk Nation), Naomi Kennedy (Lesbian Nation)
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Opening: Wednesday 21st May 2014
7 - 9pm
Event Description
Lindsay Delaronde (Mohawk Nation), Naomi Kennedy (Lesbian Nation)
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“There is no division between our lives, our work, are art. Each of us chooses the way she will challenge the limits: That is our art, too. Beauty is whatever we create. Whatever we create is beauty. We cannot be contained.”
- Barbara Starrett
Artist Bios
Lindsay Delaronde
Lindsay Delaronde, an Iroquois, Mohawk woman, born and raised on the Kahnawake reservation, has been a professional practicing artist for the past 5 years. She began her journey to become an artist travelling to the West Coast of British Columbia. Obtaining her B.F.A at the Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design, followed by a M.F.A from the University of Victoria, Delaronde continues her art career creating artworks directly related to being an Indigenous woman in contemporary mainstream society.
Delaronde is a multi- disciplinary visual artist whom has executed artworks in print-making (silk-screen printing and photos transfers), painting, drawing and video all with the motivation to expand the evolution of Indigenous peoples and their histories. She intends to construct Indigenous perspectives within Western society to bring forth truth and reconciliation through the act of creation and visual understanding.
The intentions of her work is to manifest the relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginals and also the inter-cultural respects among allies, nation-to-nation. Utilizing contemporary techniques of making art, Delaronde utilizes Native and non-Native imagery to intrude new understandings of contemporary Native life, also embracing the beauty and respect she has for her culture. Her art has the power to respond to the past while creating new images for the future.
Naomi Kennedy
As Naomi explores the many facets of self, she knows spirit to be coursing through her work. All aspects of her practice are meant to be a healing compound of others and herself. Naomi reflects on where she has been as well as also attempts to project forward the life and love she intended to manifest in this realm. From a young age Naomi was drawn into art and the unknown of spirituality. Naomi feels that her art practice is best described by a metaphor of the Ancient primordial being, the snake. When a serpent is about to shed its skin its eyes cloud over it becomes more aggressive till it hits something hard. With this impact then comes sight and the snake begins to work and its way out of the past. Till it is left with a skin showing all that it has endured to get to this place in its growth. For Naomi this is very much a description of her art process, The pieces being the casing skins that she has laboriously shed off to reveille the path of which she has journeyed in her growth.
Artist Statement
I implement a variety of media so as to chase down the ghosts of inspiration and midwife them into life. Throughout my work, I employ the utilization of ancient myths and anthropological symbology, interlaced to create multiple layers of meaning. My intent to bring together social and cultural issues through visual and performance art, in a dynamic, accessible way. Fusing race, gender, ethnic, economic, class , and ecological concerns, I hope to contribute to an evolutionary vision of connectivity and social unity.
I firmly uphold the vital role of the arts, and of the artist, in creating social change. Providing models towards the generation of a sustainable, holistic, popular world view, my imagery concerns itself with the conscious rehabilitation of the meta narratives that shape values, economics, and ideologies. To this end, the work I produce acknowledges personal and cultural authenticity, while upholding diversity. Through my work with First Nations youth empowerment in the Victoria community, and from my own life experience of growing up in a broken home, I was lead to creative methods of extending empathy and compassion, and a unique view and understanding of the power of art to heal. I am an avid researcher of Eurasian shamanic techniques and Jungian theory as well as Northern hemisphere First Nations teachings. I ask myself such questions as:
“Why is cultural appropriation so rampant?”
“What is the Eurocentric sense of entitlement to the customs, ways and fashions of a people?”
“Where, and what, are our own, ancestral traditions?”
“How have the arts been utilized throughout the ages for varying propaganda uses?”
“How can visual art impact and create change in this world, and contribute to respect for cultural values?”
To fulfil my mandate of social activism through art, I utilize evolutionary healing work with youth and youth audiences, volunteering my time with Surrounded By Cedars (first Nations Youth in foster care) and South Island Pride (LGBTTQA youth). I utilize a variety of artistic practices in creative life counselling for youth and adults. I also function as the student representative for Victoria College of Art, and frequently act as spokesperson for the school in this capacity.
Recently, I represented the college show, 'Future Meets Past,' in a taped interview with Victoria curator and arts commentator, Efren Quiroz.
I hold a Fine Arts Fundamentals Certificate, and Fine arts Advanced Certificate, and I will shortly graduate with a Fine Arts Diploma, as well as Certificates in Illustration and Animation from the Victoria College of Art.
People who have viewed my work have shared with me the messages of inspiration, beauty, and spirituality they've found, and how they could not get the images out of their minds. My goal in working in sculpture, painting, animation, and printmaking is to create a cavern of enchantment, awakening curiosity and pride in cultural narratives, legends, origin stories and root traditions. Like the Group of Seven and early Abstractionists, I subscribe to the belief that the task of the artist is to convey the spiritually vitalizing magic of art to a popular audience.
Fri. May 16th 2014 - Fri. May 30th 2014
819 Fort Street
In-Person Event
