Michael Barber: The Messengers

Exhibition Description

This exhibition features the work of Simcoe-based Indigenous artist Michael Barber. Using a range of media and techniques, Barber scratches, cuts, and gouges the surfaces of his paintings. These marred and distressed textures function as metaphors for the ways that history is denied, misrepresented, or left unspoken. Barber’s recent work applies this idea to his family’s survival of the Mohawk Institute in Brantford, the largest and longest-running Residential School in Canada. The paintings confront the impact of the Institute, the enduring effects of intergenerational trauma, and the cultural disconnection it produced within Haudenosaunee communities. They are not precious objects but contested sites, at once harrowing, loving, antagonistic, beautiful, and disarming. His vivid imagery of ravens delivers messages to loved ones in the afterlife, seeking their wisdom and guidance, while strawberries symbolize their love and support. Balancing dark realities with hope for the future, The Messengers is ultimately a story of renewal.