The La Ronge Arts Council opened a new gallery in the Alex Robertson Public Library in La Ronge in the late fall.
Their first exhibit – Omentum: A look into the Indigenous experience of the 21st Century – Exhibition Series, 2019.
The series of 10 paintings by artist John Brady McDonald offer a different view of Omentum.
Omentum is a “lacy membrane which surrounds the stomachs and organs of a number of mammals, including humans,” McDonald wrote. “It is a beautiful network of fat and connective tissue that can only be seen when an animal is butchered.”
“In order to appreciate it, one must be in the hands-on process of transforming a once living creature into food for survival,” according to background information on the exhibit.
Each painting depicts “major experiences faced by Indigenous people in the country within recent memory,” McDonald wrote.
The works have been influenced by artists Norval Morrisseau and Pablo Picasso.
“They speak of some of the major struggles and triumphs that are part of our everyday life as Indigenous people,” McDonald wrote, including: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women; Cultural Appropriation; the legacy of the Residential Schools; “the Rise and Honour of the Two-Spirited in the LGBTQ; the Return of Traditional Indigenous Tattooing; the rise in Systemic Racism Online;” and “of course, the Murder of Colten Boushie.”
McDonald wrote that the idea for the series was inspire by a studio visit in 2018, of Tahitain artist Peter Morin, “who encouraged me to flesh out my original ideas into a series of paintings.”
Each painting was named by “influential Indigenous or Métis artist, activist, or leader, such as Isaac Murdoch, Rosanna Deerchild, the members of PIQSIQ, the mother of Colten Bushie, a co-founder of Idle No More and Dr. Evan Adams, who played Thomas in the film Smoke Signals.”
“Each of these individuals, who are at the forefront of the issues for which these paintings were created, graciously donated a name which they personally felt best suited the narrative of the Painting,” McDonald wrote.
The Gallery consists of panels on each of four walls in the recreational area of the library and is a new space for the monthly exhibits hosted by the La Ronge Arts Council.
The Arts Council hosted a reception for community members to visit the exhibit one last time before it was taken down to make room for a new show.
