an apology, a pill, a ritual, a resistance
Remai Modern, MARCH 13–AUGUST 22, 2021
Artists: Ruth Cuthand, Wally Dion, Guo Fengyi, Sharona Franklin, General Idea, Jeffrey Gibson, Carsten Höller, Clara Hume, Brian Jungen, Kapwani Kiwanga, Kite, Carolyn Lazard, Candice Lin, Les Levine, Paul Maheke, Dylan Miner, Jane Ash Poitras, Skeena Reece, Allen Sapp, P. Staff, Adrian Stimson, Alberta Whittle and Linda Young.
An apology, a pill, a ritual, a resistance – an incomplete list of dissimilar things that can share a common aim: to heal and promote wellbeing. Reflecting on the current pandemic and responding to other historic and imminent threats to global wellness, artists in this exhibition underscore the urgency of radically reconfiguring understandings of health. Expanding from the exhibition’s title, the artworks presented explore health as a multifaceted and interdependent system, which can be approached through two broad and overlapping categories.
The first, minoritarian medicine—borrowed from the title of an artwork by Candice Lin—is an active resistance against oppressive power structures. It may involve acts of cultural reclamation and forms self-determination enacted through the body or between the self and the other.
The second, pharmakon, a Greek word with two meanings—medicine and poison—has been central to the development and understanding of Western medicine and pharmacology. The thing that heals you can also poison you. Philosophical writings on this concept have also considered a third element of pharmakós, a scapegoat or ritual sacrifice. This kind of healing involves expelling something or someone.
Anxieties stemming from contagion are hyper-visible in the world around us, attached to bodies as much as to viruses. These themes are useful lenses for considering our current moment, and how we will respond. The exhibition offers an opportunity to seek and understand different modes of healing that artists explore and enact, which are often difficult or painful but also joyful and rebellious.
Organized by Aileen Burns and Johan Lundh, Co-Executive Director and CEO; and Tarah Hogue, Curator (Indigenous Art), with Troy Gronsdahl, Associate Curator (Live Programs); Donald Roach, Exhibitions Manager; Jillian Cyca, Registrar (Collections); Emily Dunseith, Registrar (Exhibitions); Troy Mamer, Programs Assistant (Curatorial); and installation team: Jason Hosaluk, Chad Redl, Darren McQuay, Cameron McKay, Paul Atkins, Ian Rawlinson and Caleb Dueck.
AUDIO GUIDE
The audio tour included three stops with verbal descriptions to provide access to non-visual learners, as well as blind and partially sighted guests.
General Idea, One Month of AZT, 1991
Adrian Stimson, Iini Sookumapii: Guess who’s coming to dinner?, 2019 (described audio - excerpt)
PRESS
Gregory Beatty, “Themes for a Plague,” Planet S
Andréa Ledding, “Indigenous exhibit at Remai responds to pandemic,” Eagle Feather News
Matt Olson, “New Remai exhibition emphasizes healing and reconciliation,” Saskatoon StarPhoenix
Steven Ross Smith, “The Power of Healing,” Galleries West
PROGRAM
Chokecherry Youth Response
Using everything from drawing and painting to text and hip hop, a group of young and emerging Saskatoon artists is creating new work in response to Remai Modern’s exhibition An apology, a pill, a ritual, a resistance.
Chokecherry Studios, in partnership with Remai Modern and PAVED Arts, asked for submissions from participants inspired by a single work in the exhibition. Ten participants took on the challenge and got to work creating new pieces that respond to the exhibition’s multifaceted exploration of health and healing. Called Chokecherry Youth Response, the project is shared on Remai Modern’s Field webpage at remaimodern.org/field.
Here is a response text by Betty Pewapsconias: https://remaimodern.org/field/read/betty-pewapsconias-land-acknowledgments-at-corporate-tables-chokecherry-youth-response.
Chokecherry Studios is a non-profit organization that offers arts-based programming, mentorship, production facilities and a gallery to young and emerging artists in Saskatoon’s core neighbourhood. This project built on Chokecherry's existing partnership with PAVED Arts on the Mic Drop! program. Several of the projects were recorded at PAVED, whose staff were also an invaluable resource to the participants.
"Art is a powerful interface between community and dialogue. A collaboration like this does more than provide our young and emerging artists with meaningful experience and exposure; it offers an opportunity to critically reflect on the nuances of youth experiences. The Chokecherry Youth Response invites viewers to consider youth perspectives on wellness, illness, healing and ceremony in the context of COVID-19,” said Andrea Cessna, founder of Chokecherry Studios. “We hope this project highlights the importance of supporting emerging artists and that it will inspire more collaboration between institutions like Remai Modern and the community."
VIDEO
Adrian Stimson and Tarah Hogue in conversation, April 13, 2021
Kite and Corey Stover in conversation, July 9, 2021.
In this performance, Suzanne Kite and Corey Stover spoke as cousins do: for some time, about life, death and uranium.
INSTALLATION IMAGES
Photos by Blaine Campbell
