Lot
16
Décapode
Inkjet print, 2017
254 x 214 cm
1/3
Estimate
$6 400
Machinimagraph from TimeTraveller™
Saying Goodbye is a machinimagraph taken of the deathbed of Catherine "Kateri" Tekakwitha, the first North American Indigenous person to become a saint. The scene occurs in Episode 05 of Skawennati’s 9-episode machinima series, TimeTraveller™. The series features Mohawk characters who use a twenty-second-century technology to observe and interact with historical figures and events. To create the authentic sets in this episode, Skawennati visited Tsiionhiakwatha, also known as the Droulers Archeological Site, where can be found the remains of a pre-contact Iroquois village along with reconstructed longhouses, much like the ones Kateri would have lived in.
Biographical note
Skawennati makes art that addresses history, the future, and change from an Indigenous perspective. Well known for her machinimas and machinimagraphs—movies and photographs made in virtual environments—she also produces sculpture and textile works. Her pioneering new-media projects include the online gallery/chat-space and mixed-reality event CyberPowWow (1997–2004); a paper doll/time-travel journal, Imagining Indians in the 25th Century (2001); and the machinimas TimeTraveller™ (2007–2013), She Falls For Ages (2017), and The Peacemaker Returns (2017). Her works have been presented in major exhibitions around the world, including Uchronia|What If? in the HyperPavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale; On Desire at the B3 Biennale of the Moving Image, Frankfurt, Germany; Now? Now! at the Biennial of the Americas; Looking Forward (L’avenir) at the Biennale de Montréal; and Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation 3 at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City. Her award-winning work is included in both public and private collections, including the National Bank of Canada, Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians & Western Art, Global Affairs Canada, and the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal.