pi'tawita'iek: we go up river by Jordan Bennett

Please join us for the launch of 'pi'tawita'iek: we go up river'. As part of ArtworxTO, a large-scale outdoor mural by Jordan Bennett and curated by Lisa Deanne Smith, Curator, Onsite Gallery 'pi'tawita'iek: we go up river' will inaugurate the future focus of Indigenous public art at OCAD U.

This new artwork is rooted in Bennett’s relationships with Mi’kmaq porcupine quillwork. He brings forward and reimagines their graphic patterns, bright colours and inspiring stories. In visiting with these cultural objects Bennett connects with their visual language and furthers this conversation through his contemporary influences and experience.

The mural is presented with a solo exhibition by Jordan Bennett at Onsite Gallery also open for viewing (199 Richmond St. West): 'Souvenir' Curated by Ryan Rice, Curator, Indigenous Art, Onsite Gallery This exhibition draws upon Bennett's inspired intentions to visit, activate and respond to the innovative heritage embedded, woven and veiled in the richness of Mi’kmaq material culture and design. His interdisciplinary and intuitive approach grants new vitality to overlooked cultural expressions that carry elaborate Mi’kmaq cosmologies interpreted through customary geometric motifs embellished in a highly valued era of porcupine quillwork and basketry souvenir trade commodities that was thriving in the 19th century. The exhibition brings together Bennett’s newly designed site-specific work, museum collection loans, and installation to celebrate the vitality and influence of Indigenous aesthetic as contemporary practice.