Talking Earth

Free. No registration required.

Talking Earth, a new permanent public artwork by Tekaronhiáhkhwa / Santee Smith, will be unveiled in front of the Gardiner Museum, coinciding with the opening of the International Ceramic Art Fair, a 10-day showcase of contemporary ceramics by Canadian and international artists. Part of ArtworxTO: Toronto’s Year of Public Art 2021–2022, the sculpture was commissioned by the Gardiner to honour the ongoing Indigenous presence on Turtle Island.

On June 10, 11, and 12 at 9:15 pm, Talking Earth will be activated in a series of free public performances by Kaha:wi Dance Theatre on the Gardiner’s outdoor plaza, generously supported by Barry and Lindy Green.
3D mapping and projections, including photographs of the Smith family, will animate the artwork and the Museum’s façade.

The sculpture takes the form of a Rotinohnsyonni four-cornered earthen pottery vessel, fractured and partially reconstructed, with light shining through the cracks between the broken shards. The vessel symbolizes the disruption and trauma caused by colonization, including the legacy of the residential school system, assimilative policies imposed on womxn, and the crisis of Missing & Murdered Indigenous Womxn and Girls. Moving toward intactness, it evokes the process of re-assembling culture, memory, and ancestral knowledge.

Together, the permanent artwork and performance channel the earth’s voice and story, and more importantly, compel us to listen at this critical moment.