Michael Belmore: What is Indigenous Art?

Michael Belmore, OCAD U's first Indigenous Visual Culture Nigig Visiting Artist talks about what is Indigenous art. Learn more about OCAD U's Indigenous Visual Culture program.

Transcript:

I would say that it is basically the art that speaks about the original people. It is art that speaks about that connection to the land. The Europeans understand that about their own land, Germans know that about their land. We all understand that about our own home territory.

I think it is important to express that, especially in North America, where it has a sense that it is ‘Other’. Especially in the U.S. and somewhat in Canada. Where it is ‘well this is ours, we’ve built it’.

And it is ‘No, we were here first’ and it is about expressing that. Not so much, delineating it from everyone else, but just offering that knowledge, so that we all know.

It is about sharing knowledge, And it is about having it so that we can all understand that voice.

So, whether you are… the Indigenous art part of that is very much expressing that, and sharing. A lot of it is sharing, it is about giving knowledge.

I think that is what a lot of Indigenous artists do. A lot of Indigenous art speaks about knowledge and sharing knowledge. I think that the community is becoming more relevent not only to it’s own community but the larger community at hand.

So I think that a lot of what we speak about as artists, issues concerning land, issues concerning development, issues concerning community. Those mirror other concerns from other people and that is wonderful. I think that is what is growing. What is growing is our relevance to ourselves, but also to everybody else.