Kooshkopayiw: Awakening

Kooshkopayiw: Awakening is an exhibition of artworks by members of the Kooshkopayiw Métis Artist Collective.

Kooshkopayiw: Awakening will be on exhibit in Central Library's York Gallery from November 2, 2024, to January 31, 2025. Exhibiting artists include Patti Belanger, Kristy Cameron, Graham Paradis, Roxanne Shank, and George Simard.

Kooshkopayiw means the "awakening" in Michif and is the name of the newly formed Métis Artist Collective co-founded by Jason Baerg, George Simard and Doris Lanigan. The name was given to the Collective by Doris Lanigan during a ceremony where, "I just put tobacco down on the east side of a cedar tree which grows beside sage, and I prayed in gratitude for our artists and the collective." Supported by the Métis Nation of Ontario Cultural Commission, the Collective promotes established and emerging Métis artists through exhibitions and “Métis Art Crawls” held throughout Ontario.

"My people will sleep for one hundred years, but when they awake, it will be the artists who give them their spirit back."

–  Louis Riel