Greg Staats
embrace of the longhouse
East Campus Hall, Phillip Street facing windows
Exhibition Info
Wampum is the medium of truth and intention by recording the heart and good mind of the Hodinöhsö:ni’. Within the Hodinöhsö:ni’ Condolence Ceremony to recognize and resolve grief, the transformative orality of At the Edge of the Woods is 4 reciprocal speeches followed by an action of exchange of codified white wampum strands embodying life and light, elevate and restore the good mind. This work is situated in liminal space, where trauma can be transformed collectively into renewal and while on the pathway to the longhouse a continuum of the intention of peace and where the community is held by the words of the condolence and restoration of the good mind is embraced and shared. When the body/memory is integrated into a site prescribed for creativity and transformation and when the language of ceremony includes the earth on which upon is walked – that is Landbase.
Digital photography printed on matte coated vinyl
Produced in partnership with University of Waterloo Art Gallery and Longhouse Labs
Photography: Scott Lee
Artist Biography
Greg Staats is Skarù:reˀ (Tuscarora) / Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) b. 1963, Ohsweken, Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. He is a Toronto-based artist whose ongoing Hodinöhsö:ni’ restorative aesthetic accumulates knowledge from the worldview found within language and defines the plurality of relationships with trauma and renewal. His lens-based language documents cycles of return towards a complete Onkwehón:we neha (our original ways). Staats articulates his on-reserve lived experience positionality in visual forms including: text works, photography, embodied wampum sculpture, performance, installation, and video.
Greg Staats studied Applied Photography at Sheridan College, 1983. Solo exhibitions include: Art Gallery of Hamilton, Art Gallery of Ontario, daphne Indigenous Art Centre, Kelowna Art Gallery, McMaster Museum of Art, KWAG, Mercer Union, Gallery TPW, G44, Trinity Square Video/Images Festival and CONTACT Photo Festival at Todmorden Mills Heritage site. Group exhibitions include: AGYU, Belkin Art Gallery, National Gallery of Canada, Varley Art Gallery (OAAG award 2019) and MOCNA Sante Fe. Residencies include: AGO, Open Studio, the Banff Centre, AGYU, TSV/Images, and University of Waterloo Longhouse Labs Fellowship. Staats was awarded the Toronto Arts Foundation’s Inaugural Indigenous Artist Award (2021), and the 2024 Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts. Greg Staats is represented by Clint Roenisch Gallery, Toronto.