The Art Gallery of Sudbury (AGS) presents the McMichael Canadian Art Collection’s touring exhibition People of the Watershed: Photographs by John Macfie until June 27.
The show opened May 12 at AGS’ exhibition space at 174 Elgin Street in downtown Sudbury, with an opening reception May 14.
The gallery also hosts an “exciting evening of discussion” with exhibit curator and writer Paul Seesequasis and local curator Deanna Nebenionquit at Sudbury Theatre Centre starting at 5:30 p.m. June 4. Register at artsudbury.org.
People of the Watershed: Photographs by John Macfie was organized and circulated by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection.
While working as a trapline manager in Northern Ontario during the 1950s and 1960s, Macfie, a Canadian of Scottish heritage, formed deep and lasting relationships with the people of the Indigenous communities in the region.
As he travelled the Hudson Bay watershed from Sandy Lake to Fort Severn to Mooselake and as far south as Mattagami, he photographed the daily lives of Anishinaabe, Cree, and Anisininew communities, bearing witness to their adaptability and resilience during a time of tremendous change.
This exhibition features 60 photographs. Curated by the nîpisîhkopâwiyiniw (Willow Cree) curator and writer Paul Seesequasis, Macfie’s work documents ways of life firmly rooted in the pleasures of the land and the changing seasons.
People of the Watershed builds on Seesequasis’s visual reclamation work with his online Indigenous Archival Photo Project and his previous book, “Blanket Toss Under Midnight Sun”, serving to center the stories and lives of the people featured in these compelling archival images. This is the first major exhibition of Macfie’s photography.
“The photographs in this exhibit are a record of his travels to many Indigenous communities, of friendships forged and day-to-day life in all four seasons,” said Seesequasis.