Amber Smith-Quail (Toronto, ON)
LAND BACK, 2023. Beaded medallion constructed from vintage & contemporary glass seed beads, glass crow beads, porcupine quills, beading foundation, commercially tanned deer hide, bone hairpipe beads, beading thread and synthetic sinew displayed on a vintage landscape painting. 47 x 27.25 x 2.25 in
Bio
My name is Amber Quail and I’ve been a visual artist for as long as I can remember. My practice is based out of Toronto and South Algonquin. I am an off-reserve member of Alderville First Nation; my father was Anishinaabe, and my mother was a descendent of settlers from Scotland and England.
From earliest memories, I can recall the presence of household tension between two opposing ways of knowing and being. As a young one I felt both included and excluded from Indigenous and Western culture. These ancestries have deeply influenced my worldview personally and artistically.
Today my works are a blend of traditional and contemporary methodologies and often include beadwork, paint, and found/salvaged items. When reflecting on my lifelong artistic journey I recognize a common thread of relationship, blood memory, and identity connecting the pieces together.
Artist Statement
My work is a blend of traditional and contemporary Indigenous art, incorporating iconography, personal artifacts, and storytelling.
In the piece LANDBACK, a vintage painting from my own childhood home is transformed, via the addition of a beaded medallion to deliver a new message. The placement of traditional beadwork rendered in a contemporary style disrupts a popular theme in North American art: the myth of unoccupied land. It responds to the dark side of terra nullius and the theft of ancestral lands. The work is visual expression of truth, reclamation, and resilience.