2023 – Holding It Together

(b. 1977 Vancouver, BC; Cree, Métis)

Michelle Sound is a Cree and Métis artist, educator, and mother. She is a member of Wapsewsipi Swan River First Nation in Northern Alberta. Her mother is Cree from Kinuso, Alberta, Treaty 8 territory and her father’s family is Métis from the Buffalo Lake Métis settlement in central Alberta. She was born and raised on the unceded and ancestral home territories of the xwmƏƟkwƏýƏm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and SƏĺílwƏtaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations where she currently resides and works. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Simon Fraser University, School for the Contemporary Arts, and a Master of Applied Arts from Emily Carr University Art + Design.

“Medicine Prints are a series of cyanotypes on elkhide drums that are an exploration of materiality and process that express relation to the land. The elkhide photograms and prints are created using a variety of flora,

traditional medicines and landscape photographs of my ancestral territory in Alberta. The works are a process of image making using natural materials and techniques to create records of connection with the land and relatives. The drums reveal a relationship to memory and territory that demonstrate the importance of land as a place of connection and community. The cyanotype elkhide prints are records of gathering medicines and images on the land and the histories of these living materials.”

– Michelle Sound

Sound’s work has most recently placed in the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, the McMichael Collection in Kleinburg, Ontario as well as the Forge Project in Hudson, New York. Exhibitions include a solo presentation at Art Toronto 2023,  the Art Gallery of St. Albert, Neutral Ground ARC in Regina, Daphne Art Centre in Montréal, and the Polygon Gallery in North Vancouver. Public art pieces include street banners in New Westminster, a painted mural exhibition nākateyimisowin/Taking Care of Oneself in Ottawa, Ontario, and most recently a 6-panel photo installation at the Canadian Embassy in Paris, France.

Exhibitions

2023 – Holding It Together