IMIITAIKS’IISTSIK’OONI

Sikapinakii Low Horn’s practice combines painting and installation in the pursuit of welcoming spaces that connect back to Blackfoot land and stories.

IMIITAIKS’IISTSIK’OONI, which translates to “the dog days” in Blackfoot, refers to a time from a few hundred years ago to thousands of years before horses arrived on this land. During this time, Blackfoot people were closely co-dependent on dogs to pull the canine-sized travois of two long poles and a leather harness to help with the labour of moving camp. The importance of dogs in the Blackfoot way of life, especially before the arrival of horses, can be seen in changes such as the sizes of tipis that accommodated dog companions.

In the Library Gallery, Low Horn’s painted mural on the space’s white walls is concerned with the close inter-species connections of the dog days and the continuing importance of dogs in Blackfoot culture. In the painting, Low Horn includes a common motif of their work: vibrant seas of undulating lines surrounding the dogs and their travois. As these lines converge and move together, they appear as water ripples, air currents, or moving grass, another reminder of the dynamic exchanges between natural forces and the beings that experience them.

Sikapinakii Low Horn (BFA ’19, Drawing) creates spaces that feel welcoming to other Blackfoot people. Considering the exclusive histories of libraries and galleries to Indigenous knowledge, Low Horn intervenes on the physical structures of the settler institution, pushing back against assumptions that spaces for learning or knowledge must also be austere. Low Horn’s mural is a painted gesture of invitation to engage in open learning about Blackfoot stories while also acknowledging close relationships with canine friends.

Curated by Adam Whitford, Associate Curator & Exhibitions Manager

Sikapinakii Low Horn is a member of the Siksika First Nation, part of the Blackfoot Confederacy in Southern Alberta. They graduated with their Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2019 and are currently attending the University of Calgary as a Master of Fine Arts graduate student. Low Horn is researching Blackfoot Cowboys in Alberta, but their overall practice as a mixed media is to tell the stories of their people. Educating others about the Blackfoot people in hopes of creating a comfortable space for all.