“The way these artists leave traces of our culture in their work continues to shape the ways I understand our histories, our present, and our futures. […] None of them are looking to create a clean-cut narrative of Métis culture, and–even better perhaps—they question if there really is one. But they are looking to our future while honouring those who came before us.”
Jennifer Lee Smith
Jennifer Lee Smith is a Red River Métis Curator, Writer and Arts Administrator living on Treaty 1 Territory/Winnipeg. Her work focuses on the relationships between Indigenous artists, connections to land and material culture.
Traces act as evidence of repression, dispersion, unlikely affinities, secret histories, kinship, and artistic lineages.