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Gabrielle L'Hirondelle Hill

Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill (b. 1979) is a Métis artist and writer. Hill’s sculptural practice explores the history of found materials to enquire into concepts of land, property, and economy. Often, her projects emerge from an interest in capitalism as an imposed, impermanent, and vulnerable system, as well as in alternative economic modes. Her works have used found and readily-sourced materials to address concepts such as private property, exchange, and black-market economies. Hill is a member of BUSH gallery, an Indigenous artist collective seeking to decentre Eurocentric models of making and thinking about art, prioritizing instead land-based teachings and Indigenous epistemologies.

Hill received her MFA from the California College of the Arts, and a BFA and BA from Simon Fraser University. Most recently, her work has been exhibited at Le Magasin - CNAC, Grenoble (2023); the 59th Venice Biennale (2022); the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2021); the Vancouver Art Gallery (2020); the College Art Galleries at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon (2020); Stride, Calgary (2019); Burnaby Art Gallery (2019); Gallery TPW, Toronto (2018); Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton (2018); SBC galerie d’art contemporain, Montreal with the Woodland School (2017) and Gallery 44, Toronto (2016). Her writing has been published in many places, most recently in Beginning With the Seventies (Helen Belkin, UBC, 2019). She was also the co-editor of The Land We Are: Artists and Writers Unsettle the Politics of Reconciliation (ARP 2009) and Read, Listen, Tell: Indigenous Stories from Turtle Island (Wildred Laurier 2017). Hill lives on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and səlilwətaɬ Nations.

News

group exhibition, Indian Theatre: Native Performance, Art, and Self-determination Since 1969, Hessel Museum of Art, CCS Bar

current group exhibition, the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, until 3 March 2024

Exhibitions

Apparitions (2018)

Money (2019)

Residue (2019)

Sorry (2020)

We Work to Pay the Bills (2022)

Writing & Press

Frieze Magazine

Artforum

Brooklyn Rail

C Magazine

Public Parking

Frieze Critic's Guide

The Guardian

Artnet

Art & Education

Galleries West

CV

55(DSC04306)Gabrielle L'Hirondelle Hill-Kudzanai-Violet Hwami©photoElaBialkowskaOKNOstudio

The Milk of Dreams Venice Biennale installation view, 2022 (59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, The Milk of Dreams. Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia)

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The Milk of Dreams Venice Biennale installation view, 2022 (59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, The Milk of Dreams. Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia)

Projects: Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill, installation view The Museum of Modern Art, 2021 (New York, USA, Digital Images © 2021 The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Photos by Denis Doorly and Robert Gerhardt)

Projects: Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill, installation view The Museum of Modern Art, 2021 (New York, USA, Digital Images © 2021 The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Photos by Denis Doorly and Robert Gerhardt)

Projects: Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill, installation view The Museum of Modern Art, 2021 (New York, USA, Digital Images © 2021 The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Photos by Denis Doorly and Robert Gerhardt)

Projects: Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill, installation view The Museum of Modern Art, 2021 (New York, USA, Digital Images © 2021 The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Photos by Denis Doorly and Robert Gerhardt)

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Eviction Monument, 2017, granite, foam, concrete, wire, 113 x 51.1 x 63.2cm

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Waste Lands, installation view, Sunset Terrace (Vancouver)

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Idle Sun Chair, 2017, mixed media, 79 x 45 x 50cm

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Bundle #1, 2014, blanket, paint, rope, tobacco, 154 x 121 x 65cm

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Carpet for a Sharp Fence, 2016, plastic pipe, metal, wood, carpet, 117.5 x 127 x 22.9cm

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Money, installation view Unit 17 2019

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Exchange, 2019, pantyhose, tobacco, cigarettes, thread, tobacco flowers,

aluminum can tabs, spider charm, found metal hair clip, 16 x 33 x 55cm

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Exchange, 2019 (detail)

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Exchange, 2019 (detail)

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Kiss, 2019, pantyhose, thread, tobacco, dandelions, wildflowers, aluminum can tabs,

happy tree charm, found brooch, hair tie, bunny fur, 20 x 34 x 54cm

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Kiss, 2019

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Money, installation view Unit 17 2019

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Money, installation view Unit 17 2019

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Disintegration, 2019, Virginia tobacco, Perique tobacco, seed pods, thread, wood, found pole, 109.17 x 46.41cm

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Disintegration, 2019 (detail)

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Dispersal, 2019, Virginia tobacco, Perique tobacco, thread, seed pods,

support stocking, wood, found pole, 109.2 x 46.4cm

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Dispersal, 2019 (detail)

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Cousin, 2019, pantyhose, tobacco, thistle, spider charm, dandelion, thread, 15.2 x 10.2 x 17.9cm

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Purse, 2019, pantyhose, tobacco, dandelion, dollar store locket, bluebell, tobacco seeds,

seed pod, horseshoe charm, thread, 15.2 x 12.7 x 12.7cm

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Purse, 2019

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Money, installation view Unit 17 2019

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Offer, 2019, pantyhose, tobacco, beer can tab, wildflower, cigarette, thread, 10.2 x 19 x 11.4cm

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Offer, 2019

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Trade, 2019, pantyhose, tobacco, beer can tab, wildflower, thread, 12.7 x 19 x 17.9cm

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Trade, 2019

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Gift, 2019, pantyhose, tobacco, fabric flower, wildflower, tinfoil, safety pin, thread, 15.2 x 16.5 x 15.2cm

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Gift, 2019

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Sonshine, 2019 (detail) pantyhose, tobacco, beer can tabs, dandelion, thread, 17.8 x 17.8 x 17.8cm

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Mint, 2019, pantyhose, beer can tabs, tobacco, bunny fur, thread, 14 x 17.9 x 24.1cm

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Mint, 2019

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New Growth, 2019, fresh tobacco leaves, aluminum can tabs, dimensions variable

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New Growth, 2019 (detail)

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Braided Grass, 2013, inkjet print, 61 x 91cm

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Monument to Piazza Italia, 2014, inkjet print, 61 x 110cm

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Desperate Living, for E.S., 2018 - ongoing, denim curtains, artist’s and friends’ hair, cigarettes, beer can tabs collected from friends, metal studs, spider pendant, dandelions, thistles, various wildflowers, candle wax, thread, metal buttons,

165.1 x 106.6 x 60cm

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Desperate Living, for E.S., 2018 - ongoing (detail)

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Desperate Living, for E.S., 2018 - ongoing (detail)

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Desperate Living, for E.S., 2018 - ongoing (detail)

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Spell #1, 2018, paper, crisco oil, oil paint, tobacco flowers, snake pendant, beer can tab, magazine cutouts

6.7 x 16.5 cm (unframed)

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Spell #1, 2018 (detail)

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Coke and a Smoke, 2016, ceramic, florescent bulbs, acetate, wire, electrical tape, dimensions variable

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Coke and a Smoke, 2016

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Coke and a Smoke, 2016 (detail)

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Coke and a Smoke, 2016 (detail)

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Coke and a Smoke, 2016 (detail)

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Coke and a Smoke, 2016 (detail)

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Coke and a Smoke, 2016 (detail)

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Waste Lands, installation view, Sunset Terrace (Vancouver)

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Waste Lands, installation view, Sunset Terrace (Vancouver)

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Kiss, 2019

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Sonshine, 2019

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Sonshine, 2019

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Wood Land School: Kahatenhstánion tsi na’tetiatere ne Iotohrkó:wa tánon Iotohrha, group exhibition installation view, 

SBC galerie d’art contemporain (Montreal)

Orinoco Note, 2016, thread, Virginia tobacco, 197 x 84cm (left)

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Wood Land School: Kahatenhstánion tsi na’tetiatere ne Iotohrkó:wa tánon Iotohrha, group exhibition installation view, 

SBC galerie d’art contemporain (Montreal)

Orinoco Note, 2016, thread, Virginia tobacco, 197 x 84cm (left)

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Orinoco Note, 2016 (detail)

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N. Vancouver, group exhibition installation view, Polygon Gallery (North Vancouver)

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Be Long, from Four Effigies For the End of Property, 2017
mixed media (de-accessioned artefacts from the North Vancouver Museum and Archives), dimensions variable

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Be Long, from Four Effigies For the End of Property, 2017 (detail)

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The Highest and Best Use, from Four Effigies For the End of Property, 2017

mixed media (de-accessioned artefacts from the North Vancouver Museum and Archives), 181.6 x 81.3 x 40.6cm

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Improve, from Four Effigies For the End of Property, 2017

mixed media (de-accessioned artefacts from the North Vancouver Museum and Archives), 91.4 x 73.7 x 40.6cm

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Preempt, from Four Effigies For the End of Property, 2017

mixed media (de-accessioned artefacts from the North Vancouver Museum and Archives), 50.3 x 40.9 x 36.7cm

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