Stormy Bradley & Teresa Vander Meer-Chassé | Strength & Sexuality: A Resurgence of Indigenous Self-Expression

Feb 16

2021-03 Edge poster - Strength and Sexuality DRAFT.jpg

Stormy Bradley & Teresa Vander Meer-Chassé
Strength & Sexuality: A Resurgence of Indigenous Self-Expression

Edge Gallery, March 5 - 27, 2021

Curated by Teresa Vander Meer-Chassé

We are a collective of two Indigenous womxn artists that combat society’s stigma against womxnhood, Indigenous female sexuality, and self-expression through beaded contemporary artworks.

We respectfully acknowledge that our experiences do not represent all bodies.

IN THE NEWS
CBC Radio One

TERESA VANDER MEER-CHASSÉ | ARTIST STATEMENT
This exhibition has been several years in the making with two postponements due to the pandemic. I never anticipated that I would live through a worldwide traumatic event like the one we are currently experiencing. The pandemic has resulted in the loss of employment, the loss of creative energy, but most significantly, the loss of life. Like many, I found myself spending a lot of time in silence and grief. For several months in 2020, I experienced a lack of creative energy and spirit. Conversations like the ones I’ve had with Stormy helped bring me out of my creative slump and back to making and creating again.

The artwork I have created for this exhibition expands over three years which is a feat in itself. However, many of the artworks needed time to develop and fully embrace what it was I wanted to contribute. Because I’m not someone who speaks openly about my body or my bodily functions, I felt I could express myself through humour. Popular culture and humour played a significant role in many of the artworks I created. However, I felt the need to balance my humour with glimpses of traditions relating to menstruation. I will not explain the details of these practices, but I am fascinated in thinking of ourselves as Indigenous Peoples in a non-colonial space, time, and reality.

In the end, I wanted to offer artworks that were comforting, thought-provoking, and humorous to audiences. I hope the work sparks a sort of dialogue and consideration to the topics of self-care, self-love, and how our diverse cultural understandings influence identity. Rarely do we see Indigenous womxn openly share, converse, and create artworks about our bodies and our experiences. These spaces are taken up by men, both historically and currently; even Indigenous men are guilty of taking up space meant for Indigenous womxn. It was important to me, and I believe for the collective, that we create a space of our own. A space where we feel safe to express our individual selves.

TERESA VANDER MEER-CHASSÉ (she/her)
Teresa Vander Meer-Chassé (b. 1992), affectionately known as Ddhälh kït Nelnah, is an Upper Tanana visual artist, emerging curator, and MFA student at Concordia University. Teresa is a proud member of the White River First Nation of Beaver Creek, Yukon and Alaska, she also has Frisian and Acadian French heritage. She holds a BFA from the University of Victoria in Cultural Anthropology. Teresa learned to bead by watching and listening to her Grandma Marilyn John, an Upper Tanana Elder and residential school Survivor. Knowing the importance of cultural revitalization and preservation, Teresa’s Grandma encouraged her to start beading at the young age of eight. Teresa is engaging in an ongoing mentorship with her Grandma Marilyn that now involves language. Teresa is a passionate artist and strongly believes in the importance of preserving her Upper Tanana culture, language, and art. Her work has been shown across Canada, United States, and Iceland and she has work in the Yukon Permanent Art Collection.

Website
teresavandermeerchasse.wordpress.com

Instagram
@teresasvc

Facebook
Ddhälh kït Nelnah's Beadings

STORMY BRADLEY (she/her)
Stormy Bradley is Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, a member of the crow clan and is currently enrolled in the foundations of art program at the School of Visual Arts in Dawson City, Yukon. Stormy is an artist that uses beads, hides and fur as her medium. She blends traditional knowledge to create modern designs. Through her work she focuses on elements of her environment and uses her work to create discussion around decolonization and intersectional feminisms.

Stormy has hosted a variety of workshops geared towards youth while working with elders as she is still learning and growing as an artist. She has hosted workshops such as honouring the feminine for International Women’s Day, featuring beaded vulvas and did a series of workshops for Remembrance Day, featuring beaded poppies to honour our veterans.

Stormy was recently a part of the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre’s 5th Annual Shakaat Artist Residency with the theme being “Indigenous Femininity” in which she hosted two sold out workshops and participated in an artist social media take over for the week showcasing beadwork and technique.

Instagram
@stormybradley_arts