Ursula Johnson at Saint Mary's University Art Gallery

A soft grey light illuminates a dozen plinths throughout the Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery. They are tall, narrow, and sombre. On each plinth is a vitrine, carved on each side of the glass with the image of a traditional Mi’kmaw woven basket and text identifying various patterns. The vitrines are empty. I wander through the plinths – a forest of placeholders – weaving between them, back and forth, hoping to decode the Mi’kmaw text that plainly labels the baskets. The installation is beautiful, quiet, organic. To the left of the plinths are the remains of a performance by the artist Ursula Johnson: an axe, work boots, gloves, a spokeshave, piles of woodshavings, and a basin of water filled with thin strips of wood. Over several weeks, she has cut an entire log into splints, shavings, and woodchips.



Ursula Johnson, Mi’kwite’tmn (Archive Room), 2014 (photo: Steve Farmer)

At the other side of the gallery is an archive. Rows of shelving line the walls, each shelf filled with baskets. At the centre of room is a computer station – the archive database. On the screen are an image of a bas-ket and a list of details: name of object, materials, date, description. A barcode scanner and white gloves allow the viewer to look up data on each of the items within the archive. After exploring the baskets and digging through the database, Johnson’s sense of humour begins to surface. There is a fishing creel that is used by parents “to carry their wallets to go to the grocery store to purchase their farmed fish.” The work plays with our expectations, wavering between tradition and irony, humour and loss.

A feast and discussion with the artist hosted by the Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre (2158 Gottingen Street) will take place this Thursday at 7:30pm.


Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery: http://www.smu.ca/campus-life/art-exhibitions.html
Ursula Johnson: Mi’kwite’tmn (Do You Remember) continues until 3 August 2014.


Daniel Higham works in a butcher shop where he’ll talk to you about art, food, and life. He’ll probably sell you a roast, even though it’s summer. Daniel writes for Visual Arts News and is Akimblog’s Halifax correspondent. He can be followed on Twitter @HighamDaniel.