Rebecca Belmore

Rebecca Belmore, a member of Lac Seul First Nation, develops an Anishinaabe practice combining performance, sculpture, photography and video. Her work connects bodies, territories and languages with the political realities of Indigenous communities. She often uses her own presence and voice to investigate colonial violence, imposed silence and the mechanisms through which institutions assign value to objects and people.

Presented in the Canadian Pavilion at the 2005 Venice Biennale, Fountain projects a video onto a curtain of water, physically engaging the viewer's attention. For documenta 14, Biinjiya'iing Onji (From Inside) took the form of a marble tent, evoking the precariousness of shelter. These works turn simple materials and gestures into situations that confront viewers with history and human dignity, making the encounter with an artwork a question of relationships and responsibility.