As Immense as the Sky

Meryl McMaster’s As Immense as the Sky contemplates time and the countless cycles of life that recur around the ancient mistassini (monoliths), sputinas (buttes), wiyacahk (canyons), and ayeakow awacha (dunes) of Turtle Island. With a world view shaped by growing up in the intersection of Western and Indigenous cultures, and moving between awe and fearful apprehension about the natural world and our impact on it, McMaster sought wisdom in the places of ancestral life, coming to see these landscapes as immense time capsules of buried knowledge. As Immense as the Sky is about walking these ancient paths, experiencing the diversity of panoramas, and learning about the ancestors’ wisdom. The resulting images blend and collapse into the present the stories of kayas (long ago) with the foreboding whispers of the future.In this series of performative self-portraits, Meryl McMaster examines the overlapping cultures and histories of both her Indigenous and European ancestors. The pieces “Harbourage for a Song” and “Ordovician Tide I” from McMaster’s collection As Immense as the Sky will be on display at the NAC.

This event is free.

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National Arts Centre

National Arts Centre Ottawa, ON

The National Arts Centre (NAC) is Canada’s bilingual, multi-disciplinary home for the performing arts. The NAC presents, creates, produces, and co-produces performing arts programming in various streams—the NAC Orchestra, Dance, English The...