During the debate, the pair questioned whether or not the residential school system should be considered a genocide. The event sparked student-led protests the next week, demanding that Flanagan, a former long-time political science professor, have his emeritus title stripped.<\/p>\n
Glenna and seth said they didn\u2019t learn about the debate until the protests happened, and that if they had known before speaking at a talk related to the exhibit on Oct. 1, they would have changed what they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt pretty disrespected,\u201d said Glenna.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt that we weren\u2019t included or made aware of situations, and people didn\u2019t realize that it would affect us as Indigenous people.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said she contacted the university and immediately expressed her disapproval of the event after learning about the debate, and that she and seth withdrew their pieces to stand in solidarity with the protesters.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just needed to be done,\u201d said seth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t something that we really overthought.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/IMG_3189.jpg\")
Glenna Cardinal (centre right) and seth cardinal dodginghorse (centre left), pictured at the exhibit\u2019s opening in late September 2026. PHOTO COURTESY OF NICKLE GALLERIES \/ FACEBOOK<\/p>\n
Campus no longer felt like a \u2018safe\u2019 place, artists say<\/p>\n
They announced their decision in a letter posted<\/a> to seth\u2019s Instagram on Thursday, written by both, who collaborate and produce art under the name Tina Guyani. They explained that it wasn\u2019t an easy choice, but \u201cit just made sense.\u201d<\/p>\n Now removed, their work, including three from seth, two from Glenna, and two that they created together, was featured in the exhibit titled \u201cHeld Together,\u201d which opened on Sept. 18.<\/p>\n According to the Nickle Galleries website, the exhibition brought together artists<\/a> \u201cwhose practices engage differently with questions of relationship, place, and belonging\u201d in the context of the \u201cecological intelligence of grassland species.\u201d<\/p>\n Glenna\u2019s and seth\u2019s individual and co-created contributions centred on honouring their family\u2019s heritage through art such as a painted buffalo hide, a beaded moss bag, and enlarged photographs of their ancestors, some of whom attended residential and day schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of our work talks about that history and kind of goes in different directions at times,\u201d said seth.<\/p>\n \u201cOur work that we do together tends to be very political \u2014 kind of talks about [the] ongoing effects of colonialism, things that have affected our family and community, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Because of the intimate nature of the pieces and both their subliminal and direct connection to the residential school system\u2019s impact, they said it felt more powerful to pull their art than to leave it.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe just came to the conclusion that it didn\u2019t make sense for our art to be there, and that the school wasn\u2019t a safe space for our work,\u201d said seth.<\/p>\n \u201cIt normalizes the fact that our work could coexist with the denial of genocide, cultural genocide, all of that \u2014 having that exist in the same space as our work, and us not doing anything, it normalizes those two things to coexist.\u201d<\/p>\n Glenna and seth thanked Nickle Galleries for the opportunity to showcase their work, saying they have no issue with the gallery itself, but with the institution as a whole.<\/p>\n UCalgary to review policies pertaining to civil discourse<\/p>\n Until the exhibit closes on Dec. 12, the now-empty displays have been replaced with sage and printed copies of their letter, which asks the university to reaffirm its protection of Indigenous students and people.\u00a0<\/p>\n Glenna, a UCalgary alum who earned her bachelor\u2019s in social work at the university, explained how the rhetoric affected her, saying she hopes the event will inspire the school to enact permanent policy change.<\/p>\n \u201cIt caused great harm for me, and just realizing that people could have this free speech \u2014 which is pretty much hate speech,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a person who has an aunt that went to school and never came home, I was really, really taken aback by it.\u201d<\/p>\n Their family has gone to great lengths to verify the information passed down orally by their ancestors, including sifting through federal archives that confirmed Glenna\u2019s aunt attended residential school and sustained punishment-related injuries before she went missing.<\/p>\n With Flanagan\u2019s position as an academic who has researched the topic extensively, seth added that the debate was an instance of somebody \u201cchoosing to be ignorant\u201d about the history of Indigenous people.<\/p>\n \u201cEither someone is ignorant or uneducated, or both,\u201d they said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just an example where someone is being willfully ignorant.\u201d<\/p>\n LWC contacted UCalgary for comment on the artists\u2019 decision to pull their pieces from the exhibit and whether they were considering removing Flanagan\u2019s emeritus title, but the university declined to comment.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/IMG_3188.jpg\")
A close-up of seth cardinal dodginghorse\u2019s painted buffalo-hide art piece on display. PHOTO COURTESY OF NICKLE GALLERIES \/ FACEBOOK<\/p>\n![\"Become](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791992052_839_become_a_patron_button.png\")
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