Heidi McKenzie: Reclaimed: Indo-Caribbean Women's HerStories

February 27 - April 25, 2025
Opening reception: Thursday, February 27, 4:00 - 6:00 pm

Reclaimed: Indo-Caribbean HerStories is a mixed-media ceramic-based exhibition that illuminates the power, courage and strength of Indo-Caribbean women, past and present. Through a feminist lens, the exhibition narrates the little-known histories of Indo-indentureship in the mid-19th and early 20th centuries. Using photographic portraiture on ceramics, both archival and contemporary, the work draws in the visual narrative of the women’s indo-indentured jewelry as symbolic of strength, courage and resistance. It is an act of reclamation and decolonization.

There are three main components to the exhibition: a wall-mounted set of contemporary portraits on porcelain, lit from behind, depicting contemporary Indo-Caribbean women holding a matrilineal ancestral photograph; a two-sided collage of “Coolie Belles” photographs and ephemera on porcelain in window frames, inspired by early 20th century postcards; and a series of abstract figurative sculptures that respond to the photographic work, amidst select pieces of the Indo-indentureship silver jewelry.

ABOUT HEIDI MCKENZIE
Heidi McKenzie is a ceramic artist based in Toronto, Canada. Heidi completed her MFA at OCADU in 2014. Heidi is informed by her mixed-race Indo-Trinidadian/Irish-American heritage. Heidi uses photography, digital media, and archive to forefront themes of ancestry, race, migration and colonization, as well as body and healing. In 2022, Heidi was a finalist for the Shantz Award, Canada’s national emerging ceramics award. Heidi has exhibited internationally in Europe, Scandinavia and the US. The recipient of numerous grants, Heidi has created in Denmark, Hungary, Australia, China and Indonesia. Heidi curated ‘Decolonizing Clay’ at the Australian Ceramics Triennale, 2019, and participated in the World Indian Diaspora Congress in Trinidad, 2020, and the Celebrating Girmityas (Indo-indenturehship) International Conference, May 2023. Heidi was inducted into the International Academy of Ceramics in 2022. Heidi serves as a volunteer board member with NCECA, the National Council for the Education of the Ceramic Arts. Heidi’s solo exhibition at the Gardiner Museum, Reclaimed: Indo-Caribbean HerStories (spring 2023) continues to explore the little-known histories of Indo-Caribbean indentureship through a feminist lens.

RESOURCES
Exhibition brochure coming soon, featuring an essay by Shaneela Boodoo.

Coming soon - a Library Resource guide to further expand your understanding of this exhibition.

EXHIBITION HOURS
Monday - Friday between 12:00 and 4:00 pm from February 27 until April 25, 2025. Closed Friday, April 18.

AFFILIATED EVENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WINNIPEG
Artist Talk on Zoom: March 11 at 4:00 pm CT
Registration link coming soon.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Gallery 1C03 is located on Treaty One Territory, heartland of the Red River Métis, and ancestral lands of the Anishinaabe, Ininew, Anishininew, Dakota Oyate, and Denesuline. We acknowledge that our water is sourced from Shoal Lake 40 First Nation.

We wish to express our appreciation to Dr. Sharanpal Ruprai and the University of Winnnipeg Department of Women’s and Gender Studies and Margaret Laurence Endowment Fund Community Grants for their support of this exhibition project.

GETTING HERE AND ACCESSIBILITY
Maps of The University of Winnipeg campus, including accessibility and parking maps, can be found at https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/maps/. The Gallery is located on the main floor of Centennial Hall at 515 Portage Avenue. Accessible, street level visitor entrances with auto door openers and ramps are via Portage Avenue, Ellice Avenue and Spence Street. The gallery doors are equipped with auto-openers. There is a gender-neutral, accessible washroom less than 100 feet from the Gallery entrance. Our exhibitions and affiliated events are free to everyone.