An exhibit by a Portage la Prairie artist ended a second out-of-province display late last month.

Carmen Hathaway’s “From Smoke To Cyber Signals” spent August at Montreal’s Ashukan Cultural Space, then opened at Toronto’s York University, in the Canadian Language Museum’s Glendon Gallery, in early January.

The exhibit was recommended by Ashukan’s Nadine St.-Louis.

Assistant Sociology and Political Science Professor Yann Allard-Tremblay coordinated the exhibit, and says it reflects a course he teaches focusing on how indigenous people have re-vitalized their cultural practices.

“And how they can break the representation that is expected of them,” he says, “That’s how I came to look at artists, and how their use of art can bring people to revise their views about indigenous people.”

Yann Allard-Tremblay (photo courtesy Yann Allard-Tremblay)

He says the inclusion of 3-D printing beside 2-D digital prints is significant.

“There are certain conceptions about what indigenous people should produce as art,” he says, “And I assume that 3-D printing is not part of it. So here you have an indigenous artist using unexpected methods in order to produce art. And I think that’s a clear example of ways in which indigenous people can act in unexpected ways.”

Allard-Tremblay’s students studied the exhibit, and wrote two-page papers on their observations.

While she knew there was possibility of a second exhibit, Carmen Hathaway was still thrilled when she heard the news.

“It certainly came as a wonderful bit of news,” she says, “And I took it as a very high compliment, to know that it was enjoyed in Montreal, and it was going to be travelling to Toronto. It was quite a high.”

The exhibit ended January 26th. Hathaway attended the closing via Skype, answering questions and discussing the work with a number of people there.

Here are more pictures.