WESTERN FRONT – Maskisin ᒪᐢᑭᓯᐣ and Rinse

Amrita Hepi dances on a white stage brightly illuminated by soft pink lighting. Wearing a white shirt, black trousers, and sneakers, her torso is tilted backwards so that her face is upturned towards the sky. Her right arm is outstretched behind her and her left hand rests on her hip.

grunt gallery and Western Front are pleased to present performances by Nehiyaw Isko artist Cheyenne Rain LeGrande ᑭᒥᐊᐧᐣ and Narrm/ Melbourne-based artist and choreographer Amrita Hepi.

This is a chance to witness two remarkable practices that diverge across continents and worldviews, and converge in a shared reckoning with the idea of linear time and the singular self. LeGrande and Hepi variously inhabit performance as a means to explore unrecognized spaces that are cracked and teased open through language, adornment, embodiment, and the image refracted.

LeGrande will present a new performance work titled Maskisin ᒪᐢᑭᓯᐣ, in conjunction with her exhibition Mullyanne Nîmito on view at grunt gallery through October 29, 2022. Hepi will present an excerpt of Rinse, a new work currently in development and the 2020 recipient of the People’s Choice Award for the Keir Choreographic Award.

For those who can’t attend in person, a livesteam of the performance will be available here.

Cheyenne Rain LeGrande looks directly at the camera, while wearing a fringed shawl made by weaving pastel coloured ribbons through aluminum can tabs. Her face is adorned with face paint and her hair is pinned back with decorated clips. She stands outside and is illuminated by the soft glow of the setting sun.

About the Artists

Cheyenne Rain LeGrande ᑭᒥᐊᐧᐣ is a Nehiyaw Isko artist, from Bigstone Cree Nation. She currently resides in Amiskwaciy Waskahikan also known as Edmonton, Alberta. Cheyenne graduated from Emily Carr University with her BFA in Visual Arts in 2019. Her work often explores history, knowledge and traditional practices. Through the use of her body and language, she speaks to the past, present and future. Cheyenne’s work is rooted in the strength to feel, express and heal. Bringing her ancestors with her, she moves through installation, photography, video, sound, and performance art.

Amrita Hepi (Bundjulung/Ngapuhi) is an award winning artist. Her current practice is concerned with dance as social function performed within galleries, performance spaces, video art and digital technologies. She engages in forms of historical fiction and hybridity—especially those that arise under empire—to investigate the relationship of bodies to personal histories and archives. Amrita is represented by Anna Schwartz Gallery.

Acknowlegements

Presented by grunt gallery in partnership with Western Front, with support from the Province of British Columbia via the International Presence program and the Government of Canada.

Amrita Hepi’s Rinse is produced by Performing Lines, and is supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body. The project has been supported by Supercell: Festival of Contemporary Dance through The Makers Program; and commissioned by Carriageworks, Dancehouse, and the Keir Foundation for the 2018 Keir Choreographic Award.

Amrita Hepi, Rinse. Photo by Gregory Lorenzutti. Courtesy of the artist.

Amrita Hepi, Rinse. Photo by Gregory Lorenzutti. Courtesy of the artist.
Still from Cheyenne Rain LeGrande ᑭᒥᐊᐧᐣ, Mullyanne Nîmito (2022). Filmed by Eli Hirtle. Courtesy of the artist.

Still from Cheyenne Rain LeGrande ᑭᒥᐊᐧᐣ, Mullyanne Nîmito (2022). Filmed by Eli Hirtle. Courtesy of the artist.

Western Front is a non-profit
artist-run centre in Vancouver.

We acknowledge the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations as traditional owners of the land upon which Western Front stands.