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Join the MacKenzie and Ender galleries as they co-present the exhibition of artist in residence Simon M. Benedict. Odanak – at the Village is an installation and custom texture pack informed by Benedict’s ancestral community. Drawing from “Kinaw8la – She Takes Care of You,” an educational booklet co-authored by his sister Evelyne Benedict and Donna O’Bomsawin, Benedict’s exhibition remixes the default Minecraft environment to incorporate medicinal plants – both native and non-native – currently present on Odanak Abenaki territory. The exhibition features representations of both the natural and built environments of Odanak, reckoning with the ongoing colonial project as it pertains to the Abenaki people. In the wake of recent conversations regarding the Canadian residential school system, Benedict’s project addresses this history while creating virtual spaces for education and healing.
The Gallery invites you to experience the exhibition first-hand through this public opening event on the server. Audience members will require a licensed copy of Minecraft (Java edition) and a corresponding Minecraft account to join the server. Please contact cbluemke@mackenzie.art if you would like to join in-server but do not have an account. Instruction on how to join are available at www.ender.gallery/howtojoin
The opening event will also be livestreamed to the MacKenzie Art Gallery’s social media, including its Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch accounts, which are viewable without a Minecraft account.
Content Notice: This exhibition addresses the residential school system, genocide, and death.