Traces is an upcoming exhibition that plays with the idea that an absence can also carry memory. The exhibit, running from September 25, 2026 to March 14, 2027, includes works by Dënesųłinë́ artist Catherine Blackburn and Vuntut Gwich'in artist Jeneen Frei Njootli. Through Blackburn and Njootli's photographic focus on the destruction left behind by colonialism, Traces evokes the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Reduced Inequalities.
The photographs on display appear very intentional in the absence of subjects. In Jeneen Frei Njootli's Joanne, viewers see a small detail: a closed fist, blurry around the edges with just enough clarity to see a couple of tattoos. We are not put in touch with the person attached to that hand but given a close-up shot, like a clue to figure out what we're looking at.
This, and other images like it (many referencing beadwork), protect the subjects by limiting what viewers have access to. These actions act against colonial efforts of removal. They seem to intend to shift what viewers expect from a photograph's focus. Instead of being fully let into a scene, and a life, our vision is obscured.
Several images also reference beadwork, considering the process that takes a considerable amount of physical labour. Indentations on the skin created by beadwork leave behind a physical memory, another kind of absence.
Catherine Blackburn is a multidisciplinary artist, jeweller, and a member of the English River First Nation (Dënesųłinë́). Her work deals with Canada's colonial past and finding ancestral love through stitchwork.
Jeneen Frei Njootli lives and works in Vuntut Gwitchin, located outside Old Crow, Yukon. Their work spans sculpture, regalia, performance and sound. Njootli's work has been displayed international at KADIST (San Francisco), Fonds regional d'art contemporain (France) and New Museum Triennial (New York), as well as at other gallery spaces.