This past Winter, Joseph Sánchez’s exhibition, Niizh Manidoog Giigidowag | The Spirits are Talking, was presented at Urban Shaman (US) in Winnipeg, Manitoba. US “is an Aboriginal artist-run centre dedicated to meeting the needs of artists by providing a vehicle for artistic expression in all disciplines and at all levels by taking a leadership role in the cultivation of Indigenous art.” Established in 1996, the centre has been at the forefront showcasing contemporary Indigenous art, providing programming that represents “emerging and established artists whose work displays a high degree of professionalism, aesthetic maturity, and rigor.”
The exhibition has remained ‘opened’ virtually and you are invited to take a virtual tour here.
Also included in the exhibition tour, as well as embedded below, is a video comprised of a series of talks with Sánchez on his work. In Part 4 (10:30) he recalls a 1974 visit from Norval Morrisseau to his Manitoba farm. Morrisseau gifted him a book about the Ghost Dance religion. Sánchez shares how the book motivated him to delve into learning more about the religion that “ended with the Massacre at Wounded Knee in 1891.” In the 1980s he created a body of work referencing photographs of the Ghost Dance from the Smithsonian’s archives. For Sánchez, the prints and paintings he produced at that time, “represent the enlighted spirit of native people.”
For more information on Niizh Manidoog Giigidowag | The Spirits are Talking visit www.urbanshaman.org.
