Exhibitions

Skawennati

Calico & Camouflage: Demonstrate - Solo Exhibition

October 28 to January 30, 2021

Calico & Camouflage is a fashion collection of ResistanceWear defined by traditionally-inspired ribbon shirts and military-style cargo pants – two articles of clothing that are intertwined with the history of colonization on Turtle Island. Colourful silk ribbons and floral calico fabric were first introduced to our communities in the 1600s through trade with European settlers and were adopted and adapted by our innovative ancestors to become the ribbon shirts and dresses that have since become widely-recognized signifiers of traditional Haudenosaunee regalia. In contrast, military garb has been adopted in defiance of the repeated attempts by colonial forces to eliminate us. From Wounded Knee to the Oka Crisis to Standing Rock to Mauna Kea, our land- and life-defenders have claimed camouflage clothing for their own to show that we are not afraid to fight. – Skawennati

George E. Russell

Hexagonal Paintings

November 5 to January 30, 2021

As part of the Pictura Montreal festival, ELLEPHANT presents George E. Russell, Hexagonal Paintings.

A master of Op-Art, aesthetically related to Quebec’s Les Plasticiens, George E. Russell (1933-2016) developed a unique artistic voice in which both geometric abstraction and spontaneous expression merge. Using his signature hexagonal format, George E. Russell’s imagery belongs amongst Quebec’s celebrated canon of abstract painters, while retaining the feel for the wide open spaces of his birthplace, Saskatchewan. The works on view at ELLEPHANT include many of his iconic Hexagonal Paintings from the 1970s that have rarely before been available for purchase.