Join us to mark the release of our catalogue publication for last year’s solo exhibition by Elsa Robinson, Sankofa. Artist Lana Whiskeyjack’s ongoing relationship with Elsa informs the text Whiskeyjack provided for this publication. The two artists will expand their conversation, sharing reflections on their practices and the specific works of Sankofa.
About the publication
A bird, its head turned backwards, carrying a precious egg in its mouth. In order to move forward, we always look backwards. “Sankofa”, from the Akan Twi and Fante languages of Ghana, means to go back and get something.
Elsa Robinson’s Sankofa explores the theme of spirituality through the artist’s experiences and research. Robinson’s three installations reflect past and present though a combination of natural fibres and artificial materials, working in the tradition of Feminist art, and techniques handed down from her mother: sewing, crochet, and embroidery.
Sankofa was shortlisted for the 2022 Eldon and Anne Foote Edmonton Visual Arts Prize.
Bios
Elsa Robinson is a Jamaican-Canadian multi-media artist and teacher. Her decades-long devotion to artistic practice has imbued her work with vibrancy, versatility and an intuitive spiritual poignancy through which she is able to transmit her deep love and care for humanity. Ms. Robinson first worked as a self-taught artist, and today she holds the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Art and Design from the University of Alberta and the degree of Master of Fine Arts from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Ms. Robinson’s teaching career began in Jamaica where she specialized in Special Education for the Deaf. After arriving in Edmonton, she completed the Bachelor of Education degree and has taught both adults and youth in English, ESL and French Immersion programs here in Edmonton. She is also a passionate arts educator who facilitates workshops for artists of all ages and experience levels.
Dr. Lana Whiskeyjack is a multidisciplinary treaty scholartist (Scholar and artist) from Saddle Lake Cree Nation. She is an assistant professor in the department of Women’s and Gender Studies in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta. Her research, writing, and creativity, is grounded in nêhiyaw ceremony, nêhiyawêwin (Cree language) revitalization, and in Indigenous ways of knowing and being. She completed her iyiniw pimâtisiwin kiskeyihtamowin doctoral program at University nuhelot’įne thaiyots’į nistameyimâkanak Blue Quill, a former Indian Residential School attended by two generations of her womb connections. Her doctorate arts-based research focus is in Indigenous sexual health, women’s economic security, and intergenerational trauma to resilience. Her current arts-based research and inquiries explores (re)connecting to the spirit of nêhiyawêwin (Cree language); nêhiyaw diverse gender worldviews; and, the iskwêw (woman) body relation to the cosmic and earth within 13 moon calendar teachings. She is featured in a documentary about confronting and transcending historical trauma through art as ceremony practice titled, “Lana Gets Her Talk” (2017). www.lanawhiskeyjack.ca