Performance by Anishinaabe Odawa artist Barry Ace

Creative performance that combines the art of Anishinaabe beadwork to the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Issue. Temporary exhibition, Wednesday 27 and Thursday 28 April 2pm to 5pm.

This workshop is presented in collaboration with the NONAM – Nordamerika Native Museum in Zurich.

As an extension of the exhibition "Environmental Injustice - Indigenous Alternatives" this performance invites you to reflect on the issue of Indigenous Peoples' Rights. Throughout the exhibition you can read different legal texts taken from the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples among others. This text, which is fundamental at an international level feeds the reflection of the Anishinaabe (Odawa) artist Barry Ace.

During these two afternoons you will be able to observe the creative and collaborative process that the artist has put in place in the heart of the exhibition. For the project, Barry Ace, a debendaajigig (citizen) of M’Chigeeng First Nation (Manitoulin Island, Canada), will create a new collaborative artwork that combines the art of Anishinaabe beadwork with the 46 articles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The artist will engage and work together with 23 participants in Zurich and 23 participants in Geneva on a new collaborative artwork entitled waawiindmawaa – promise based
on each of the 46 articles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, acknowledging the significance of this international instrument. During the workshops, the
participants will discuss the meaning and intent of the articles and the impact on Indigenous peoples in Canada. They will also hand-bead a floral design on a fabric swatch and hand write their
article in graphite on vellum. At the conclusion of each workshop, the vellum will be rolled into a scroll and attached to the beaded floral swatch and placed in one of the three pottery floor vessels
created by Ace. This collaborative work is a collective acknowledgement of importance of UNDRIP and its commitment by the United Nations and Canada as a signatory country to uphold and
honour the treaty agreements with Indigenous peoples of Canada. When read together, this work is a contemporary visual and mnemonic treaty agreement.

The piece created will then travel to NONAM - Nordamerika Native Museum in Zurich to be presented in the exhibition wāwīndamaw - promise: Indigenous Art and Colonial Treaties in Canada (8 April - 17 September 2022).