The Thief <\/em>(2021), is a mixed-media sculpture installation covering the entire back wall. The scene depicts a wolf cutting through a clothesline of red garments, one of which is in its mouth. When asked about this work, Smith-Quail says \u201cI think about the clothesline as a connection, and the wolf has broken the connection.\u201d She explains how communities are working hard to build those connections, the ones being taken from Indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples have fought, and continue to fight, to not let their histories be erased, in more ways than one, and this exhibition is an opportunity to learn the facts of what happened, and continues to happen, to our Indigenous peoples.<\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n Installation views of The Thief, 2021, paper bag, paint, synthetic sinew, miniature wooden clothespins with Amber Smith-Quail<\/p>\n\n\n\n A series of Amber Smith-Quail\u2019s <\/a>paintings are drawn on LCBO bags, a happenstance activist statement. Each LCBO bag is decorated with flowers and animals, rectifying the stereotype associated with Indigenous alcohol abuse. Smith-Quail explains how she decided to cover the alcohol symbol with art, which she considers to be a tool for healing. \u201cNow when people look at the LCBO bag, people will see the beauty and elegance of Indigenous culture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n And Your Bird Is Green, (top) and Mister Pink, (bottom) both 2023, archival pigment print<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dakiimii (to have land), <\/em>(2017-2023), is an imagined monopoly board depicting the land ownership, Oka Crisis and five white gifts (to name a few) that the Indigenous endured. As viewers walk around the board, they will notice motifs around the room reflected.<\/p>\n\n\n Dakiimii (to have land), 2017-2023, acrylic paint on panel<\/p>\n\n\n\n The educational properties of this work also extend to Smith-Quail\u2019s beadwork in the show. The beaded Land Back, <\/em>(2022-2023)is a reminder that in Canada beadwork was outlawed at a point in time so Indigenous peoples had to hold onto the knowledge they had in secret. As a result, many Indigenous people do not know how to bead because it was schooled<\/em> out of them.<\/p>\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.artoronto.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/rsz_rsz_img-0119.jpg\")
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