Oji-Cree artist exhibits her work in OCAD GradEx 103

By Rick Garrick

TORONTO—Oji-Cree artist Karalyn Reuben exhibited large format digital prints on acetate that she captured during road trips with her father at OCAD GradEx 103, held May 3-6 at OCAD University in Toronto.

“They are all the landscapes as we were driving on the highway,” says Reuben, an OCAD University Indigenous Visual Culture student from London whose father is originally from Kashechewan on James Bay. “I just kept taking pictures of the sky and kind of landmarks that we went by.”

Reuben says the road trips were to the Shingwauk residential school in Sault Ste. Marie, which her father attended for a few months.

“Every year they have an annual gathering in the summer,” Reuben says. “My dad works as a support worker for a band in Sault Ste. Marie, so I went with him for two summers in a row. I took pictures of the building.”

Reuben says her family used to do a lot of road trips when they were younger.

“A lot of my family on my mom’s side is spread out throughout southwestern Ontario,” Reuben says. “So I love going on drives with my dad. We don’t listen to music, we just kind of sit and talk and he kind of teaches me about culture and sacred practices.”

Reuben says the sky and clouds caught her attention during the road trips.

“I’ve always loved horizon lines,” Reuben says. “With my previous degree [BFA Fine Arts], I was making images with the horizon and sky and water and land. I was seeking answers to questions like why are we here.”

Reuben says the Indigenous Visual Culture program taught her about the Anishinabe view of existence.

“I didn’t think my previous works had any kind of Indigenous concepts,” Reuben says. “But they already did, just kind of in the background and in my mind, which I felt was really affirming to make that connection.”

Reuben says her work focuses on feelings of inadequacy about connection to the land.

“It’s complicated, so the images are made out of multiple layers in Photoshop,” Reuben says. “I kept layering it and layering it, but then I kind of realized I do have a connection and it’s not that traditional one that you would think, but it is there. My dad says that you are never really alone because you are always on the land, even if you are in an urban centre. I’m still trying to figure that out personally.”

Reuben says her work is inspired by mamatowisiwin, a Cree concept described by Indigenous Scholar Willie Ermine as being “a capacity to tap the creative force of the inner space by the use of all faculties and constitutes our being”.

Reuben was one of two graduates from the Indigenous Visual Culture program. She says the program was “amazing”.

“It has exceeded all of my expectations and I have learned so much,” Reuben says. “It kind of opened a whole creative world for me. It’s a good combination of studio and critical studies.”

Reuben was one of about 900 graduating artists and designers who exhibited their work in OCAD GradEx 103 at various locations on campus.

“It’s our great pleasure [to] invite the public to see the exciting work and fresh ideas of our graduating students, who are ready to launch careers in fields ranging from game design to visual art to advertising,” says Sara Diamond, president and vice-chancellor of OCAD University.

GradEx is the largest free art and design exhibition in Toronto, with a record-breaking 45,000 visitors in 2017.