The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (AGGV) opens its summer season with three contemporary exhibitions centered on Indigenous perspectives, identity, and land. The anchor show is Meryl McMaster's "Bloodline," opening June 18, featuring large-scale photographs, sculptural elements, and immersive video that trace her mixed Plains Cree, Métis, Dutch, and British heritage through the lives of her grandmothers from the Red Pheasant Cree Nation. Alongside it, "Lekwungen: Place to Smoke Herring" by Brianna Bear and Eli Hirtle presents a film installation on Songhees Nation language and land stewardship, while "Architectures of Protection," curated by Dr. Toby Lawrence, features works by Dana Claxton, Jessica Karuhanga, Emilio Rojas, Beth Stuart, and France Trépanier exploring care and resistance.
This season matters because it foregrounds Indigenous artists and perspectives in a major public gallery, using contemporary media—photography, video, sound design, and installation—to address themes of ancestry, cultural continuity, and land stewardship. The exhibitions reflect a growing institutional commitment to Indigenous curation and storytelling, offering audiences immersive experiences that connect personal and collective histories. The gallery's investment in upgraded sound and display equipment for McMaster's video pieces underscores the increasing importance of multi-sensory exhibition design in engaging viewers with Indigenous narratives.