November 19th, 2007: Shifting Tides: Indigenous Responses to Climate Change

Today, Pacific Peoples' Partnership launches their Shifting Tides initiative that brings together indigenous peoples from both sides of the Pacific to discuss climate change. A delegation of indigenous elders, scientists, and youth practitioners of traditional ecological knowledge from Rarotonga will join Canadian aboriginal counterparts for a cross-Canada speaking tour (Victoria to Iqaluit) to bring attention to the socio-economic and cultural impacts of global warming on indigenous communities in Canada and the small island developing states of the Pacific, as well as to identify tools and resources for indigenous people to confront the challenges in ways that strengthen culture and traditional knowledge.

The delegates will participate in a panel discussion at 7:00pm tonight in the law student's lounge of the Fraser (Law) Building at the University of Victoria. For more info about Shifting Tides, including upcoming tour dates, contact Pacific Peoples' Partnership.

November 8th, 2007: Coast Salish Exhibition Opens @ AGGV

From now until February 24, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria is hosting Transporters, an exhibition of work by ten leading Coast Salish artists. According to AGGV's website, the show "express[es] new and long-held Salish visions and stories of the land, and post-colonial critiques of cultural appropriation. Some artists in the exhibition have transported classical Salish design principles into the present, while others claim unexplored visual territory with their work and aspire to bring about new understandings of Salish thought and visual language. The common departure point is their honour and respect for their predecessors, while engaging in innovative uses of materials, techniques and intellectual strategies that act as sites of both resistance and potential."

Participating artists are Susan Point, lessLIE, John Marston, Luke Marston, Maynard Johnny Jr., Chris Paul, Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, Charles Elliott, Shaun Peterson, and Marvin Oliver.

October 17th, 2007: Glimpses of Heaven film screening + DVD release

Glimpses of Heaven, Michael Oved Dayan's award-winning documentary about spiritual and artistic triumph in the face of tremendous adversity, will screen at Roxy Theatre in Victoria at 1:30pm on Sunday, October 21. The film, which is winning great acclaim at festivals across North America, features the stories of three men- George Littlechild (painter), Wayne Ngan (potter), and Peter Gary (composer)- who overcame childhood abuse and neglect and established themselves as leading artists.

The film has just been released on DVD, too. For trailers and ordering information, visit the official site. Roxy Theatre is at 2657 Quadra Street, tel. 250-382-3370.

August 22nd, 2007: COMING EXHIBITS: GEORGE LITTLECHILD & TIMOTHY AKIS

Our fall exhibition schedule will begin on September 6 with a double bill: solo shows by Cree painter George Littlechild and by PNG printmaker Timothy Akis.

Come and meet George Littlechild at the opening reception of Apisasisin (Little Things) on September 6, from 7-9pm.


Top image:
Fly to Escape by George Littlechild

Bottom image:
Meri wantaim Muruk na Pikini (Woman with Cassowary and Child) by Timothy Akis