Wâpahtowin. An Indigenous View of the Other

Wednesday, June 9, 2021

6:00PM – 7:30PM (EDT)

As part of the Rembrandt in Amsterdam exhibition that is scheduled to open May 7th 2021, the National Gallery of Canada presents: Wâpahtowin. An Indigenous View of the Other. Join Gerald McMaster, curator Greg Hill, and knowledge keeper Rick Hill as they share an Indigenous perspective on the connections with contemporary art, shedding light on blind spots in the traditional art-historical narrative. While the Rembrandt in Amsterdam: Creativity and Competition exhibition examines the productive relationship between creativity and competition in Rembrandt’s time, it also includes a narrative beyond a European focus, showing how the Dutch Republic of Rembrandt’s time had a very clear connection with the history of Turtle Island.

Register now. Spaces are limited.

Greg Hill

Audain Senior Curator of Indigenous Art, National Gallery of Canada

An artist and a Kanyen’kehaka member of the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, Greg Hill is the Gallery’s inaugural Audain Chair and Senior Curator of Indigenous Art. Hill has been dedicated to expanding the collection, display and recognition of Indigenous art. He has curated many important retrospective exhibitions for senior Indigenous artists in Canada, as well as the ongoing series of international Indigenous art exhibitions.

Gerald McMaster

Professor of Indigenous Visual Culture and Critical Curatorial Studies, Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto

With over 40 years of international work and expertise in contemporary art, critical theory, museology and Indigenous aesthetics, Gerald McMaster is a prominent leader in representing Canada in the arts. His early interests concerned the lack of representation of Indigenous artists in art museums, and raising concern to how culturally sensitive objects were displayed and represented. His projects have created awareness and understanding of transnational Indigenous visual culture and curatorial practices.

Rick Hill

Tuscarora artist and Knowledge Keeper from the Six Nations of the Grand River and Indigenous Innovations Specialist at Mohawk College, Hamilton, Ontario.

While holding traditional knowledge and stories on wampum belts, Hill has worked for their return from museums and knowledge recovery. As a community-based historian, he has re-examined the nature of the treaty relationship with the newcomers, that started with the Dutch in 1613. Hill attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Buffalo, were he taught for over 20 years. He also served as Assistant Director for Public Programs at the National Museum of the American Indian, and wrote the interpretive script for the Skä•noñh – Great Law of Peace Center in Syracuse, NY.

About the exhibition.

Wapatah Contributes to National Gallery of Canada Rembrandt Exhibition

Dr. Gerald McMaster and Wapatah centre have been invited to contribute to the exhibition Rembrandt in Amsterdam: Creativity and Competition exhibition, organized by the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa and the Städel Museum in Frankfurt am Main​. Scheduled to open in May 2021, the exhibition will explore the rise of one of the great artists in the European tradition, Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69).

Caption: Ruth Cuthand, Smallpox, 2011, glass beads, acid free matboard with rayon flocking, nylon and polycotton thread, acrylic paint, Plexiglas and wood frame. 64 x 49 x 3 cm. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Purchased 2017 (47541). Photo : NGC