In the exhibition Reconciliation, Resilience, and Red, multimedia artist Justina McKay reflects upon and honours Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit folks who have been made missing or murdered at a rate six times higher than their non-Indigenous counterparts due to inaction, racism, and colonization. Using contemporary and traditional Indigenous art techniques, she blends utilitarian, decorative, and symbolic modes of image-making to develop a unified visual language pf heritage, legacy, and presence. As curator and scholar Lori Beavis observed of beaded garments, the beautification of the practical and domestic “is an embodiment of existence”–a connection between though, skin, and the ways in which we understand the world by virtue of our movement through it.

Justina McKay is a First Nations artist, originally from Minagoziibi Anishinaabe First Nation (Pine Creek), registered with Cote First Nation, now based in Brandon, who works across painting, beading, and multimedia.

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