Opening Reception: Napoigagenn / Mémoires érodées

Join us to experience two exhibitions that emphasize ancestral and spiritual connection; Marie-France Robichaud, Tara Francis and Starlit Simon.

Napoigagenn is an exhibition of the work of Tara Francis and Starlit Simon, Mi’kmaq artists from Elsipogtog First Nation. While the artists are in different stages of their careers, their work is united through a cultural perspective, while addressing symbolism, spiritual meaning, and traditional storytelling and narrative. The artists’ artworks put in context their identity as Indigenous artists and the significance of inherited traditional knowledge for social and cultural transformation.

Tara Francis has established a practice as a contemporary artist working in traditional porcupine quillwork. As a respected mentor, teacher and guide, she has helped emerging Indigenous artists find their way.

Starlit Simon is a student, journalist, writer and artist. She creates artwork in materials that reflect and honour Indigenous culture, including porcupine quills and birch bark while addressing contemporary issues of identity, violence against Indigenous women, and the spiritual world.

In Mémoires érodées, Marie-France Robichaud intersects and links memories of her grandmother with her own experiences. Robichaud lives in New Brunswick where she held a BA in Visual Arts from the Université de Moncton. After receiving the S.H. Mackay Merit Scholarship, she took courses in photography which became her primary artistic interest. The main theme of her artistic research is our relationship to time, expressed in narrative visual form. She obtained a master’s degree in photography at Studio Arts College International in Florence (Italy) in 2021, for which she received an internal scholarship and the ARTSNB Scholarship for Arts Studies as well as the Baxter & Alma Ricard Graduate Scholarship.