ARTIST: Barry Ace – “mazinigwaaso / to bead something”

Tour through the exhibition in 360 view by clicking on the forward play button above. To view full screen click on ____ in the bottom right corner. Once inside the space use your mouse or ____ pad to move through the space in the direction you want to go, much like moving through Google Maps.

Curated by Lori Beavis, mazinigwaaso / to bead something; Barry Ace’s Bandolier Bags as Cultural Conduit was an extensive exhibition of Barry Ace’s work focusing on the form of the bandolier bag. Most often associated with the Anishinaabeg of the Great Lakes, the name, in Anishinaabemowin, is derived from the description on how they are worn – aazhooningwa’igan – meaning ‘worn across the shoulder.’

At times, two might be worn, criss-crossing the chest of the wearer. The wide shoulder straps connected to the sides of a large rectangular pouch that would land hip height, extending to the knee or beyond. Decorated with painstakingly elaborate beadwork of floral motifs. the effect created was dramatic and elegant.

For Ace, engaging with the bandolier’s form has been a way to contribute to the cultural continuity of the Anishinaabeg. As an Odawa, and band member of M’Chigeeng First Nation on Manitoulin Island in Ontario, Canada, Ace’s practice explores the form from abstraction, as seen in Coalesce [Fig. 2], to reinvention of the form through the use of digital screen technology as a mode of cultural transferance. With Bandolier for Norval Morrisseau, Ace has digitized images of Norval Morrisseau’s famous ‘tea party’ then uploaded the digital files to a tablet contained within the pouch area of the bag. Employing vibrant colours of velvet applique, bronze mesh screen and electronic component floral motifs, the straps pay hommage to Morrisseau’s distinctive black outlines and Woodland style [Fig. 1]. The work is a moving as well as visually stunning honouring for the Anishinaabe artist.

ABOVE: Video of model of 3D scan of Bandolier for Norval Morrisseau. Collection of Westerkirk Capital Inc.

FIG. 1: Bandolier for Norval Morrisseau. Collection of Westerkirk Capital Inc.

FIG. 2: Coalesce, an example of the abstracted form of a bandolier bag. Collection of Michael Belmore.

From www.barryacearts.com:

Each of the bandolier bags included in this exhibition is unique. Ace combines such materials as hand-made paper, fibres, wire, copper jingles, porcupine quills, digital video screens as well as the unfathomable amount of wiring required to run the circuitry of technology. Also presented in the exhibition is a complete set of Anishinaabe men’s and women’s regalia juxtaposing floral beadwork with electronic component floral motifs. Two video pieces are featured in the Black Box screening room – one an historical silent film of ceremonial dance (filmed in 1925 in Wiikwemkoong, Manitoulin Island, when such ceremony was banned under the terms of the 1876 Indian Act) and the other, a video by artist and film-maker Shelley Niro entitled Homage to Four in Paris documenting Ace’s site specific Reparative Act dance performances in Paris, France in 2010. (view performance video here under “Artist Videos” then scroll down to “Homage to Four in Paris”)

Throughout the exhibition, the voice of Ace, filters through the space. From the Black Box he can be heard in Homage to Four in Paris recounting his time performing A Reparative Act, at four locations around the city [name them]. This was an act to repatriate the souls of the Anishinaabe dancers who also performed in Paris, in the 1800s, but who perished from small pox, never to return home.

The sound of the jingles on Ace’s regalia, as he walked through the Parisian streets, also extends into the gallery. The light tinkling of tin against tin enters the ears while eyes take in the jingles attached to the bottom edge of the bandolier bags and the fringe of the regalia. The visual and auditory overlap … artist presence during the exhibiton.

Along with Maungwudaus, who self-published a recount of the journey, [add in names] other Missisauga dancers travelled with George Catlin for his {add name}

soundscape .

Their sound…

Image of Barry Ace (right) during performance of A Reparative Act in Paris, France 2010, installed as part of the 2017 exhibition Anishinaabeg Art + Power at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario. Example of traditional regalia (left) in vitrine.

LIST OF WORKS:

Manidoominens – Spirit Beads (2013) (mixed media, 41 cm x 41 cm)
Collection of Maxime Faille, Vancouver, British Columbia.
Bandoliers for Nibi (Water) Aki (Earth; Noodin (Air) (2019) (mixed media with scrolling LED text, 116 (h) x 40 (w) x 10 (d) cm each)Digital wiigwaas-mkak (2019) (mixed media, 30 (l) x 20 (h) x 30 (d) cm)Digital Memory (2019) (mixed media, 101 cm x 69 cm, unframed)

All collection of the artist.
Indian Pow Wow (1925)
Ontario Motion Picture Bureau.

Homage to Four in Paris (2018) Directed by Shelley Niro, edited by Katherine Asals.
Collection of the Ottawa Art Gallery.
Mashkiki (Medicine) Bandolier Bag (2015) (mixed media on Arches Platine paper, 91.5 x 30.5 cm)
Collection of Gaye Sihin, Victoria, British Columbia.
Gashkibidaaganag for Jean Baptiste Ense (Great-Great-Grandfather) (2018) (mixed media wtih digital screen, 116 x 40 x 10 cm)
Collection of Rick Hiebert, Toronto, Ontario
Study for Mashkiki (Medicine) Bandolier Bag (2015) (mixed media, 76 x 114 cm) Collection of Gaye Sihin, Victoria, British Columbia.
Coalesce (2015) (mixed media on Arches Platine paper, 76 x 114 cm)
Collection of Michael Belmore, Ottawa, Ontario.
Bandolier for Norval Morrisseau (2019) (mixed media, 180 x 38 x 15 cm with digital screen with still photographs)
Collection of Westerkirk Capital, words of Art, Toronto, Ontario.
Bandolier for Water and Plant Life (2019) (mixed media, 133 x 37 x 19 cm) Collection of the artist.
Mino Bimaadiziwin (2017) (mixed media, various dimensions)
Collection of the artist.
Bandolier for Alain Brosseau (2017) (mixed media, 201 x 40 cm)
Collection of the Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario.
Transformation Bandolier (2015) (multimedia on paper, 83.82 x 38.1 cm)
Courtesy of Kinsman Robinson Galleries, Toronto, Ontario.
Return of the Thunderbirds (2017) (mixed media on handmade paper, 83 x 38 cm) Courtesy of Kinsman Robinson Galleries, Toronto, Ontario.
Digital Bandolier (2011) (mixed media, 233.7 x 38.1 cm)
Collection of the City of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario.
Beaded Abstractions (2014) (mixed media, 56 x 76 cm)
Collection of Indigenous Art Centre (INAC), Corporate Secretariat Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, Canada / Goverment of Canada.

IMAGES: Leah Snyder.
TEXT: Leah Snyder.
360 SCAN & VIDEOS: Codrin Talaba