mīgisak mīgohk / Beads in the Blood: A Ruth Cuthand Retrospective

For four decades, Saskatchewan-based artist Ruth Cuthand has influenced the contemporary art landscape in Canada with her narrative-driven artwork. Cuthand has been instrumental in the development of an experimental and expansive Indigenous art practice grounded in critically relevant subject matter. As a matriarch in Indigenous contemporary art practice, she has mentored generations of Indigenous artists and prompted shifts in how artists engage with community knowledge.

During her career, Cuthand has repeatedly found new ways to approach familiar mediums, provoking new paths for visualizing the experience of Indigenous people living through settler colonialism. Curator Felicia Gay looks at Cuthand’s career from 1983 to 2024. The exhibition comprises new and past works, including video, mixed-media installation, photography, and collaborative story-work between Cuthand and Gay. Cuthand critiques historical and contemporary narratives with humour and biting wit, highlighting the enduring effects of the colonial project as well as the enduring strength of Indigenous people in Canada.

mīgisak mīgohk / Beads in the Blood: A Ruth Cuthand Retrospective encapsulates Cuthand’s diverse range of interests and strategies and engage communities with stories that encourage knowing, caution, and continuation or survival.

Ruth Cuthand, a member the Little Pine Cree Nation in Saskatchewan, is widely recognized as one of Canada’s foremost contemporary artists. Cuthand’s use of beads as a medium, particularly through her renowned Trading Series (2009), has become central to her artistic practice. The exhibition highlights her mastery of beadwork, a traditional technique to confront colonization, health crises, and survival. Reflecting on the importance of storytelling in Cree culture and Cuthand’s work, curator Felicia Gay explains, “Stories live within us, germinating in each child, stories with umbilical cords feeding a mother’s heart. You hear people say it is your blood memory; the stories will come to you in dreams if you are meant to have them. They say the stories live on in our language and on our faces.”

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About the artist:
Ruth Cuthand’s career as a visual artist, educator, and community advocate for women and BIPOC communities has impacted the Canadian cultural landscape in a multitude of ways. Born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Cuthand began her education at the University of Regina in 1977, and later transferred to the University of Saskatchewan, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1983. She later pursued post-graduate studies at the University of Montana in 1985 before returning to the University of Saskatchewan to complete a Master of Fine Arts in 1992. Cuthand has been instrumental to the development of an experimental and expansive Indigenous art practice grounded in critically relevant subject matter. Cuthand taught as a professor at the University of Saskatchewan and the First Nations University of Canada (Saskatoon campus). In 2011, her work was the subject of the mid-career survey, Ruth Cuthand: Back Talk (1983-2009), curated by Jen Budney for the Mendel Art Gallery (Remai Modern) in Saskatoon. Her work is represented in major collections across Canada, including the National Gallery of Canada, Art Gallery of Ontario, MacKenzie Art Gallery, and University of Saskatchewan Art Collection. Acknowledging her artmaking as well as her strategic mentorship, teaching, and community engagement, Cuthand’s honours include a Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan Artist Award (2013); University of Saskatchewan Arts & Science Alumni of Influence Award (2016); Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts (2020); Governor General’s Artistic Achievement Award (2023); and the Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship (2023). Cuthand currently lives and works in Saskatoon.