KSAHKOMIITAPIIKS (EARTH BEINGS)

Informed by the land and those who have nurtured this earth for millennia, Contemporary Calgary launches a holistic artist residency led by Indigenous mentors. 

“This residency is mentored by the land itself; your art is being led by your relationship with the land, or the relationship you hope to have with the land.” - Faye Heavyshield 

About Ksahkomiitapiiks (Earth Beings)

Ksahkomiitapiiks is an annual residency of dynamic public programs and responsive art works that interrogate and nurture our relationships with the land.

Ksahkomiitapiiks, interpreted in English as “Earth Beings,” is an inclusive term serving as both a noun and a verb; embodying who we are and what we create as guests on this earth. An invocation for a blessing whenever spoken - a call for prayer, witness and inspiration, we are Ksahkomiitapiiks. This series is an introspection on our ever-evolving languages and ordnance of how we choose to honour the land we occupy, as well as our ancestral custodians. 

Developed in consultation with an Advisory Committee of Indigenous Community Members and Elders, Faye HeavyShield, Clarence Wolfleg Sr. and Adrian Stimson. Each annual art work will be placed in the center of Contemporary Calgary’s atrium, over Helena Hadala’s original Mosaic (1979), a piece that represents the Earth with Calgary at its center. By way of a workshop with the team, we’d like to reflect on our personal and collective connections with the land.  

Each artist will be paired with an Indigenous mentor, working together to build a creative and empathetic partnership. For the first commission, installed on June 21, 2023, we invite Adrian Stimson as our mentor. Our inaugural artist will be announced on September 30, 2022.

We’d like to invite the larger Contemporary Calgary family and community, which includes visitors and members, to also reflect on the land. This reflection is dependent on a grounded understanding in the past and the future, in knowing who we are today has been informed by those who lived before us, and who will become is dependent on who we are right now. It is time to understand what it means to acknowledge the land and honour our relationships to Mother Earth and her keepers. Under the guidance and understanding of artists and elders, we will explore what it means to be Ksahkomiitapiiks.