A new art exhibition featuring art from both Indigenous and LGBTQ+ artists opened in Fort McMurray last week.
“ᒣᐢᑲᓇᐊᐧ ᑯᑎᑯᑕᑳᐧᐤ Intersections” had their grand opening in the Jubilee Centre lobby on July 13, and the exhibition will remain there until Aug. 31. The Cree name, ᒣᐢᑲᓇᐊᐧ ᑯᑎᑯᑕᑳᐧᐤ, roughly translates to “where the trail meets.”
Jes Croucher, curator at Pawâmiw Creative, put the exhibition together and brought in featured art by Dan Cardinal McCartney, Mitchel Bowers, Natashia Gushue-Birkett, Amanda Hall, Bexx Lee, Brooke McMillan, and Kritsana Naowakhun.
In an interview, Croucher explained the meaning behind the name.
“Intersections in our identity represents how there’s interconnectedness in a person’s culture, gender, race, sexuality, age, class, physical abilities, and more. Most importantly, this is about intersections in identity,” Croucher said.
“We’re featuring, and I hope in the process uplifting, two-spirit LGBTQ+ stories and voices,” she added.
Cardinal McCartney is a board member of Stride Gallery in Calgary but is from Fort McMurray. He says that having his art featured in the exhibition is “a big switch of a director of an art gallery down south in Calgary, to bring my artwork back home to Fort McMurray. It means so much to me.”
“As a First Nation artist, a queer, two-spirit artist, to have my work curated by Jes Croucher, it means a lot, to bring my story home,” McCartney added.
When talking about the meaning behind the exhibition, Croucher said that “this exhibition means gratitude and honor, to be able to be trusted to be able to share these stories.”
“Our two-spirit people are sacred people. They were a part of our ceremonies, they were in the lodges with the medicine people, and it’s time that we make space for them, and uplift them back to their rightful places of leadership,” Croucher added.
