Sharing Seeds: A Conversation with Api’soomakha & Christina Battle

Artists Api’soomaakha and Christina Battle will discuss their shared interest in the prairie grass ecosystem and the restorative environmental work they have undertaken in their respective practices. Both artists work with the same lesson in mind, that we share the land. The conversation, which takes place as part of the Great Plains Gathering and will be moderated by MacKenzie Art Gallery Associate Curator, Lillian O’Brien Davis.

Christina Battle is an artist, curator, and writer based in amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton), within the Aspen Parkland: the transition zone where prairie and forest meet. Her practice focuses on thinking deeply about the concept of disaster: its complexity and the intricacies entwined within it. She looks at disaster as a series of intersecting processes, including social, environmental, cultural, political, and economic, which are implicated not only in how disaster is caused but also in how it manifests, is responded to, and overcome.

Battle’s practice prioritizes collaboration, experimentation, and failure; she has exhibited internationally in festivals and galleries as both artist and curator. With Zach Ayotte, Christina co-publishes and edits COI, a new online publication bridging the relationship between art and culture from the perspective of the Canadian Prairies.

ABOUT THE GATHERING GREAT PLAINS SERIES

This exhibition is part of the Gathering Great Plains series—a partnership and program by MacKenzie Art Gallery and Remai Modern that features exhibitions, thoughtful panel discussions, and opportunities for community engagement. Centred on themes of movement, borders, and migration, the series positions the Great Plains as a gathering force—a witness and participant shaped by the stories it holds. Guided by the impetus to bring to light narratives that have long been overlooked, the series centres the voices of marginalized and racialized communities and offers space for reflection, dialogue, and the possibility of renewed relationships with each other and the land.