We’re so honoured to have photographed the making of a public large scale art installation by Indigenous artists Niap (Nancy Saunders) from Kuujjuaq, Nunavik, Quebec, and Olinda Reshijabe Silvano from Lima, Peru. This installation is a part of a larger project, from the press announcement: “Arctic/Amazon: Networks of Global Indigeneity, an expansive curatorial program originated by the Wapatah Centre for Indigenous Visual Knowledge. Curated by Gerald McMaster, the mural is a collaboration between Indigenous artists Niap (Nancy Saunders), and Olinda Reshinjabe Silvano who respectively hail from these two regions.”
We spent a few days with the artists as they worked from their base at OCAD creating the mural from beginning to end. It’s always interesting and fun to see other artists as they work, and even more so in this capacity; two very different artists, with some of a language barrier, collaborating. As much as our assignment is to photograph the process of this mural being created it was important to us to not be too intrusive and disrupt their workflow so we took turns shooting from afar, only seldomly using flash, and every so often choosing the right moment to get in close for more detail focused shots.
Upon completion the mural was photographed, printed in a more weather-proof paper, and enlarged to 12 x 8 metres. The installation is located on the west facing wall of Kerr Hall at Gould Street and Nelson Mandela Walk. Read more about the project on TMU’s site here and about the Arctic/Amazon on the Wapatah site here.
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