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Sonny Assu intervenes in Emily Carr's 'colonized' landscapes in new exhibit

Indigenous artist Sonny Assu uses Emily Carr's classic landscapes as the foundation for his latest collection of art entitled We Come to Witness.
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Sonny Assu's exhibit, We Come to Witness: Sonny Assu in Dialogue with Emily Carr, runs till April 23, 2017 at the Vancouver Art Gallery. (Courtesy of Sonny Assu)

Artist Sonny Assu has intervened on Emily Carr's classic paintings. 

In his latest project entitled We Come to Witness, Assu has taken Carr's famous landscapes and reclaimed them, in a way. Assu says this is "a way to place an Indigenous voice back onto these colonial landscapes." 

Placed on top of Carr's paintings are abstract shapes and ovoids, coming together in an almost sci-fi style (a love of Assu's). While Assu went into this project with a certain view of Carr's work, he does admit that, through showing his work to others, his assessment of Carr's work has changed over time. 

He adds, "Now that I've been able to work on this show and speak to those people who have a different understanding of what her art work was, I think that's changed my opinion a little bit."

WEB EXTRA | See selected works from Assu's We Come to Witness exhibit below.

Sonny Assu's exhibit, We Come to Witness: Sonny Assu in Dialogue with Emily Carr, runs till April 23, 2017 at the Vancouver Art Gallery. (Courtesy of Sonny Assu)
Sonny Assu's exhibit, We Come to Witness: Sonny Assu in Dialogue with Emily Carr, runs till April 23, 2017 at the Vancouver Art Gallery. (Courtesy of Sonny Assu)
Sonny Assu's exhibit, We Come to Witness: Sonny Assu in Dialogue with Emily Carr, runs till April 23, 2017 at the Vancouver Art Gallery. (Courtesy of Sonny Assu)

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