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Did It Hurt?

Take Care Group Exhibition with Destiny Davidson, Amy Malbeuf, Sheri Osden Nault, Tristen Sanderson

Dana Justine Belcourt

Did It Hurt?

Exhibition Run: September 28- December 7, 2024
Opening Reception: September 28, 5- 8PM
Ociciwan Contemporary Art Centre 10124 96 St Edmonton, AB

Ociciwan has been hosting a series of films made by Indigenous filmmakers from across Turtle Island throughout 2024 in our New Media Gallery. This initiative is generously supported through the Edmonton Arts Councils Connections and Exchanges Initiatives Grant. Through this program, the Edmonton Arts Council provides project and initiative funding to organizations to activate the City of Edmonton’s 10 year plan, Connections and Exchanges.

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Featuring video work by Dana Justine Belcourt. Did It Hurt? shares a curatorial theme of care and tattooing with our main space exhibition, Take Care.

There are so many layers of care that go into giving or getting a tattoo. There’s care in the relationship between artist and the receiver, for the client’s wellbeing, for the artist’s self, their practice, the culture, and of course the care the client takes to heal their tattoo.

Did It Hurt? navigates self-perception, care, and grief. Told through a series of diaristic vignettes, the video captures fleeting, everyday moments, and presents them as worthy of attention, care, and celebration.

These moments focus on both landscape and body, with special attention to the west coast, hands, tattoos, and the blemishes of themselves and others as they illustrate heartache, tenderness, and healing from grief.


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Exhibition run: September 28 - December 7, 2024
Gallery Hours: 12pm-5pm, Wednesday to Saturday

Opening Reception: September 28, 5:00- 8:00 PM

Artist Talk: September 28, 6:00-7:00 PM

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and the Edmonton Arts Council.

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Dana Justine Belcourt (They/She) is a multidisciplinary mixed Cree/Métis artist from Amiskwaciwâskahikan, specializing in paintings, zines, and murals. Their work deals with themes of love, indigeneity, and relationships through symbolism, metaphors, and narratives. Their paintings tend to be focused on specific emotions and personal stories, while their murals and public pieces are often commemorating community experiences. Their zine work allows them to showcase their writing and journaling practice, which is emotive and sentimental. Overall, their pieces are highly personal, including small details and nuances which are elusive and secretive in nature. They hope for their work to be a lens into themselves, allowing others to see how they experience the world. 

They’ve recently exhibited at Latitude 53 (2022), Emily Carr (2022, 2023), and Sâkêwêwak (2022), as well as completed murals in Edmonton (2021), and Vancouver (2022). They’re currently practicing on the unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. They completed a BFA at Emily Carr in 2023, and are currently an artist in residence at Skwachays Lodge.

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EXHIBITION RESPONSE by Theo Donovan

How can I write about care when the grief is so loud it’s all I can hear

Scars fracture my skin like cracks in the earth: my body, a mirror of theirs. The cries of grief echo through the soil. From Palestine to Turtle Island it’s all I can hear. As I walk the land, children buried. I feel the loss radiate under my feet. The leaves, trees, river and grass never forget, and neither will I. She holds them, Mother Earth, and keeps them safe. In all the despair, I know I can reach out and hold them again. By planting a seed, touching the grass or putting my feet in the river.

One foot after another is sometimes all I can manage, and it’s all I need. My heels striking the earth, noticing where I feel it in my body, listening in. I am of the land. Wandering down the icy path, the slick trail forces me to slow my pace and focus on every step as not to fall. I’m focused in on my body, every step, every breath, and for a few short minutes I’m thinking of nothing but my feet on the ground and the freshness of the air. I walk past the white spruce and the magpies, I know I am with my relatives. My body comes from the land and will one day return to her. Knowing this is one of the great comforts of my life.

Walking and writing are practices which ground me. Letting things be what they are; life, love, hurt. Walking, the land, doesn’t demand anything of me. No production, no punctuality, no perfection. It requests only my presence. Walking is slow, relational. Slowness is inherently decolonial, as a rejection of the production demanded of us by white settler colonialism and capitalism. I yearn to be soft and slow; small rebellions of care. 

“Care” holds a lot of weight. It’s complex, layers of oppression and privilege inform the discourse of ‘care’. When complacent and individualistic, it has the capacity to cause as much harm as it does healing. Care is not apolitical, as it has been commodified and framed as a ritual of individualism. But to care for the self is to care for others. Grounding practices like walking and writing allow us to reflect on the unnoticed, the imperfect, to see compassion and beauty in the mundane. To hold space for it all, the hurt, the joy, the loss. To hold space for ourselves and others. To be grounded in the messy interconnections of life and community; to hurt, to care.

Future nostalgia is felt through the mundane of today—simple, little things. The things we don’t think about as we move through our days will be the subjects of future daydreams and desires. Maybe at once things we hoped to escape. Gratitude, exemplified through hurt. It’s complex. These things may not be grand. A familiar hand, a streetlight. The urban and commonplace. Or worthy of celebration, a laugh, a park bench. But through reflective and organic video clips, Belcourt gives us a glimpse into the simplicities and griefs of a life. Reminding us all that the mundane is worth celebrating.

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ABOUT THE WRITER

 Theo Donovan (they/he) is a queer mixed ancestry Red River Métis artist who is currently based in ᐊᒥᐢᑿᒌᐚᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ (Amiskwacîwâskahikan), Treaty 6 Territory. Theo is an interdisciplinary visual artist, writer, photographer, teacher and activist who has just completed his Bachelor of Studio Arts at MacEwan University. Their artistic practice is not bound by any one material or conceptual avenue. But rather they use their skills as an artist to explore and learn about the world around him with open curiosity and  play.

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ACCESSIBILITY

Ociciwan Contemporary Art Centre is barrier-free and is equipped with a lift to reach upper floors and lower floor gallery. Single stall and wide stall washrooms available on every floor. Children are welcome! Change tables available in select washrooms.

ETS stops at 96 Street and Jasper Avenue 1 minute walking distance (Routes 2, 5, 111, 131), 95 Street and Jasper Avenue 5 minutes walking distance (Routes 1), 100 Street and Jasper Avenue 10 minutes walking distance (Central Station, routes 8, 130X, 150X, 201). 

LRT Valley Line is a  1 minute walking distance (Quarters Station) 

Street parking:  96 Street, Rate: Free parking, Hours of Operation: 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM Monday to Saturday; 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM Sundays

Street parking: 101A Avenue, Rate: $2.00 / HR Monday to Friday; $1.00 / HR Saturday and Sunday, Hours of Operation: 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM Monday to Saturday; 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM Sundays

Paid impark lots available down 101A Ave