A library exhibition by Aaron Rice
” The impetus for my research at Artexte begins with the question “What are you hungry for?” This idea of exploring “indigenous hunger” started while I was participating in a residency at The Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver, B.C. in 2023. I was asked to look at the collection and find objects, cultural belongings and ancestors from my nation to connect with and have some kind of dialogue with. This prompted me to think about making an art installation of tongues, speaking about hunger for knowledge and language. Hunger can mean so many things; my research here is only a beginning and it requires digging deeper. This brings me to the work being done by artists and thinkers, as well as knowledge keepers and the ones who do the work of survivance. I think of how indigenous people are connected through the land, through food and through ritual. How do these needs and wants manifest through actions, words and art. Surely, I am not the only one who has these stirrings and desires that linger and haunt the mind and body. There is a definite overlap between art, activism and sustenance that I want to investigate. Questions about desire and feeding hunger, the longing for, and the fulfillment of wishes fill my mind.
Thinking of a way to look, to strategize my research and find answers, I started out by looking at documentation of work that I already had knowledge of. This led to participation in a Haudenosaunee pottery workshop, live experiences of art events and attending a talk about corn teachings with Mohawk Elder Tom Porter. I am grateful for this opportunity to search, to question and to contemplate. As an indigenous curator and artist, I take on the challenge to observe, to gather, and to respond. I engage with the archives, the photos, the written words and through making. As the residency is coming to an end, I present my findings with a selection of works, a talk, a performance and sharing with food. The selected works I have chosen to share speak about hunger through an indigenous perspective. “
Aaron Rice