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Two things are clear when you speak with Jake Kimble about their grandmother. The first is the love they have for her. The second is that the grandmother is quite the character.
“When we were setting up the photo I’m wearing this kind of big white T-shirt and, like, white shorts,” said Kimble.
“My grandmother looks at me and she says, ‘Is that what you’re wearing?’ … then she says, ‘Well, you look like a slut.’”
Kimble’s grandmother plays a major role in their new art exhibit, “My Bones Are Funny, Sometimes They Ache,” on display at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton.
“It was -40 that day, it was very cold,” said artist Jake Kimble about the shooting conditions during this nude photo. (Jordan Gill/CBC)
It was a discussion about what the Chipewyan word for “funny bone” would be when Kimble’s grandmother came up with the name.
“She was thinking about it and she said, ‘Oh, you know, my bones are funny and sometimes they ache.’ That’s how I kind of came to the title,” said Kimble.
In many ways the installation is about growing up, with artworks featuring images of Kimble as a kid all the way through adulthood.
Emma Hassencahl-Perley, the gallery’s curator of Indigenous art, said it was Kimble’s exploration of growing up that piqued her interest in exhibit.
“What draws me to Jake’s work is how vulnerable they are with tough experiences, moving through grief and how complicated that is as an adult,” said Hassencahl-Perley.
“We’re in our early 30s, so we’re kind of experiencing that at the same time and maneuvering that.”
Mixed media
The installation includes elements of traditional western art, like self portraits, Indigenous art like beadwork, and some mediums not traditionally seen in art from any background — like paper towels.
“I’m originally from Hay River in the Northwest Territories where there are no art galleries, there’s no fine art printing facilities,” said Kimble.
“I know so many amazing artists that live up there, and we really kind of make do with what you have. So I just bought like a little cheap printer from the drugstore and kind of MacGyvered my way into printing these images from my home territory onto paper towel.”
“I just bought like a little cheap printer from the drugstore and kind of MacGyvered my way into printing these images from my home territory onto paper towel,” Jake Kimble said. (Ben Ford/CBC)
In Kimble’s installation, you see a lot of them with pictures of themselves as a kid and their grandmother teaching them Chipewyan.
But you also see a lot of Kimble in the physical sense with several nude photographs featured in the exhibit, including one where he’s laying in the snow.
“It was –40 that day; it was very cold,” said Kimble.
“Being naked and kind of getting over the ego like, “I’m naked, OK, I’m crying which is what you should be paying attention to.”
“My Bones Are Funny, Sometimes They Ache” is on display at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery until October.