kosisochukwu nnebe

They Forgot That We Were Seeds

February 9 - March 15, 2020 at the Carleton University Art Gallery

They Forgot That We Were Seeds is a group exhibition featuring the work of KC Adams, Deanna Bowern, Roxana Farrell, Bushra Junaid, Amy Malbeuf, Meryl McMaster, Cheyenne Sundance and Katherine Takpannie.

In this exhibition, curator Kosisochukwu Nnebe reimagines the history of Canada as a settler-colonial state, placing the artists’ works at the centre of her effort to construct a complex and rich counter-archive through the lens of food.

Sugar, salt and cod take on layered meanings as the histories of labour, displacement and adaptation they contain are excavated. Touching on issues of land, migration, and food justice and sovereignty, the exhibition offers a glimpse into decolonial and sustainable futurities rooted in Indigenous worldviews.

Summoning forth decolonial and sustainable futurities, Nnebe asserts that “Black and Indigenous women are more than just the seeds that history has tried to bury—they represent deep roots and a harvest more plentiful than we could ever imagine.”