Animate Energy

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Curated by Asinabka Festival 

Location: Gallery 101 (280 Catherine St.)

Vernissage: Sat., Sept. 19, 2026, 2-5pm 

Exhibition Dates: Sept. 19 - Oct. 17, 2026

Animate Energy is an immersive and playful exhibit that reflects on how artists engage with material culture, the natural environment, colonial histories, imagined futures among the stars, and the animate energy of the universe. 

In Anishinaabe cosmology, the world is an animate place full of life, and particularly through a linguistic lens, the world and things in it are described as animate or inanimate. The works in this show feature 5 Indigenous artists that use video, photography, new media, and storytelling, to engage with ancient traditions and ancestral wisdom. 

Lindsay McIntyre’s film “Tuktuit : Caribou” shows us images created with emulsion made with caribou gelatin and developers made from the lichen seen on screen, asking us to connect with the struggles of the caribou and nature directly. Tyson Houseman’s video “Opwêyakatâmêw” shows us the animacy of the world by taking us on a walk through the forest with his brothers while a voice over of their grandfather offers a teaching in their language, nêhiyawewin. Kanina Terry’s “bushoir” photography series features Indigenous models wearing animal hides and shows us that our bodies are sacred. Pōhaikealoha’s storytelling game “Among the Ancestors” veers closer to the storytelling practice of her ancestors, and takes us on a journey of self-discovery among the stars. Hexe Fey’s video “Ancestral Dance” incorporates glitch art and archival film and video that invites us to learn about the history of the ghost dance ceremony and to re-examine colonial violence head on.