Catherine Blackburn + Jeneen Frei Njootli: Traces | The Polygon Gallery

Traces brings together the work of Dënesųłinë́ artist Catherine Blackburn, and Vuntut Gwich’in artist Jeneen Frei Njootli. Through photographic works each artist captures the absence of a subject rather than the subject itself. Lingering traces of family histories and cultural knowledges remain on the flesh and in the concealment of it.

The body is obscured through incision and adornment. These reductions and impressions are made with the intention of providing protection to the subject through limiting the viewer’s access. Acting in direct opposition to colonial efforts of removal rooted in the intention to destroy, Blackburn and Njootli ask how these actions shift meaning when we trust the one who is authoring the cut.

With reference to beadwork — a laborious and careful process that is made for and by bodies — these stitches that surround the silhouettes and leave their indentations on the skin honour and serve as physical memory of that which is unseen.