New exhibit uses popular culture to explore Canada’s colonial past

SASKATOON – The Diefenbaker Canada Centre is hosting an exhibit that looks at settler colonial responsibility. Grand Theft Terra Firma, curated by The Reach Gallery in Abbotsford, B.C. appropriates the language of digital gaming to reframe the settlement of Canada as a complex heist.


Specifically, the title refers to Grand Theft Auto—a series of popular video games.

Borrowing from this, the exhibition unfolds as a strategy guide to an imaginary video game based on historical events occurring within S’ólh Téméxw, now more commonly known as British Columbia's Fraser Valley.

By combining contemporary popular culture with historical source material, artists David Campion and Sandra Shields disrupt the celebratory mythology of nation building and invite visitors to evaluate their own continued and complicated relationship to colonial practices. The exhibit also sheds light on the impact of the settler movement on Indigenous communities, and highlights the work of the two artists and their collaboration with the Stó:lō.

In advance of the exhibit opening on January 29, the Diefenbaker Canada Centre invites all media to an exhibit preview. Leading the exhibit preview will be artists David Campion and Sandra Shields. Also available for interviews are Albert (Sonny) McHalsie, Stó:lō Cultural Advisor and Stó:lō Elders, Grand Chief Clarence Pennier and Nancy Pennier.

Monday, January 28, 2019
10 - 11:30 am
Diefenbaker Canada Centre
101 Diefenbaker Place

Media are encouraged to RSVP.  

 

For more information, please contact:

Erica Schindel
Communications and Marketing Specialist
Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy / Diefenbaker Canada Centre
University of Saskatchewan campus
306-966-2663
Erica.schindel@usask.ca

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