Barry Ace’s new collaborative project Bskaabwidmaagen (return something back to its owner) in France is an extension of his previous work undertaken in Canada and Switzerland addressing two key domestic and international documents: Canada’s Residential Schools’ Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s – 94 Calls to Action and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In 2023, Ace participated in the Les Rencontre decoloniales in La Rochelle, France. 

For the La Rochelle and Nantes collaborative project, Ace will be worked with artists Olive Martin and Patrick Bernier as co-creators, along with the participation of museum curators/directors, arts administrators, and art and law students as contributors in the completion a new contemporary textile-based trans-Atlantic wampum belt. Wampum belts are mnemonic visual agreements or treaties utilized by both the Rotinonhsyón:nih and Anishinaabeg peoples of the Americas. The work Bskaabwidmaagen (return something back to its owner) is a contemporary mnemonic textile device to instil dialogue and heighten the awareness for international Nation States to begin to seriously address the complex issues surrounding cultural repatriation of sacred material culture from both a domestic and international perspective. The work is on-going, as future international collaborations with Indigenous artists will add their voice and motifs in response to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and repatriation.

Pictured top: Patrick Bernier, Olive Martin, and Barry Ace in La Déparleuse atelier (Nantes, France)

Read more about the project on Barry Ace's website here.