Sonny Assu: A Radical Mixing

From sci-fi to superheroes, interdisciplinary artist Sonny Assu investigates what it means to be an Indigenous Canadian today. Raised in North Delta BC, a suburb of Vancouver, it wasn’t until Assu was eight years old that he learnt of his Liǥwildaʼxw/Kwakwaka’wakw roots. His work is informed by a deep understanding of his heritage, radically remixing Kwakwaka’wakw iconography with western and pop aesthetics. Assu uses humour and irony to unsettle misconceptions of Indigenous peoples and expose enduring legacies of colonization. Grappling with autobiography, family history, indigenous visual culture and the crosscurrents that shape his worldview, Assu proposes a radical mixing that is politically charged and deeply personal.

Co-curated by Dennison Smith, Oceana Masterman-Smith and Verity Seward