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
shortlist, 2023 Sobey Art Award
forthcoming group exhibition, the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 13 October 2023 - 3 March 2024
Exhibitions
Apparitions (2018)
Money (2019)
Residue (2019)
Sorry (2020)
We Work to Pay the Bills (2022)
Writing & Press
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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)

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)

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

Waste Lands, installation view, Sunset Terrace (Vancouver)

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

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

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

Money, installation view Unit 17 2019

Exchange, 2019, pantyhose, tobacco, cigarettes, thread, tobacco flowers,
aluminum can tabs, spider charm, found metal hair clip, 16 x 33 x 55cm

Exchange, 2019 (detail)

Exchange, 2019 (detail)

Kiss, 2019, pantyhose, thread, tobacco, dandelions, wildflowers, aluminum can tabs,
happy tree charm, found brooch, hair tie, bunny fur, 20 x 34 x 54cm

Kiss, 2019

Money, installation view Unit 17 2019

Money, installation view Unit 17 2019

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

Disintegration, 2019 (detail)

Dispersal, 2019, Virginia tobacco, Perique tobacco, thread, seed pods,
support stocking, wood, found pole, 109.2 x 46.4cm

Dispersal, 2019 (detail)

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

Purse, 2019, pantyhose, tobacco, dandelion, dollar store locket, bluebell, tobacco seeds,
seed pod, horseshoe charm, thread, 15.2 x 12.7 x 12.7cm

Purse, 2019

Money, installation view Unit 17 2019

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

Offer, 2019

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

Trade, 2019

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

Gift, 2019

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

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

Mint, 2019

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

New Growth, 2019 (detail)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Spell #1, 2018, paper, crisco oil, oil paint, tobacco flowers, snake pendant, beer can tab, magazine cutouts
6.7 x 16.5 cm (unframed)

Spell #1, 2018 (detail)

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

Coke and a Smoke, 2016

Coke and a Smoke, 2016 (detail)

Coke and a Smoke, 2016 (detail)

Coke and a Smoke, 2016 (detail)

Coke and a Smoke, 2016 (detail)

Coke and a Smoke, 2016 (detail)

Waste Lands, installation view, Sunset Terrace (Vancouver)

Waste Lands, installation view, Sunset Terrace (Vancouver)

Kiss, 2019

Sonshine, 2019

Sonshine, 2019

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)

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)

Orinoco Note, 2016 (detail)

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

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)

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

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

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