Carleton University Art Gallery: They Forgot That We Were Seeds
curated by Kosisochukwu Nnebe
09 February – 23 August 2020
Featuring the work of KC Adams, Deanna Bowen, Roxana Farrell, Bushra Junaid, Amy Malbeuf, Meryl McMaster, Cheyenne Sundance and Katherine Takpannie, They Forgot That We Were Seeds uses foodways, as curator Kosisochukwu Nnebe writes, to re-imagine the history of Canada as a settler-colonial state, placing Black and Indigenous women at the centre of an effort to construct a counter-archive.
Sugar, salt and cod take on layered meanings as the histories of labour, displacement and adaptation they contain are excavated. Touching on issues of land, migration, and food justice and sovereignty, the exhibition offers a glimpse into decolonial and sustainable futurities rooted in Indigenous worldviews; here, Black and Indigenous women are more than just the seeds that history has tried to bury—they represent deep roots and a harvest more plentiful than we could ever imagine.