Monica Canilao and Outi Pieski: Mimicry, Kristin Hjellegjerde

Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery’s latest exhibition, Mimicry, looks at the heritage of two very different artists: one from the plains of North America and the other the wintry vistas of the Arctic Circle. For both of these artists, however, heritage is vastly important, as they forge new cultural stories from their own histories.
Monica Canilao, artist and great granddaughter of a Chinook Native American Princess, places the cultures of her ancestors at the heart of her work. Often using the feathered-materials and rust-colours of her heritage, Canilao generates a personal and living history from remnants of a forgotten past. Following her Los Angeles exhibition this year entitled, Monica Canilao: Born from Ruins, these new works at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery London weave tea bags, old paper and lace onto the surface of old pin up posters. These relics explore the space between the everyday and the sacred as Canilao embellishes them with a new-born mythology.
Over on the ice wastelands of the North, Outi Pieski uses textiles such as the ruffles from the hems of dresses and the tassles of shawls, to reference her native Sami people. As her paintings create a sense of their wintry surroundings, conjuring swirls of snowfalls and dark clouds in their textured surfaces and feathery brush strokes; so Pieski creates a dialogue between the land and the people that live there.
You’ll also discover the installation Crossing Paths in this contemporary art gallery where autumnal Sami tassels hang from a wooden frame, suspended from the ceiling. In this work the viewer encounters other travellers along the icy road, each with their own vital histories.
Entangled within their cultural heritages, Pieski and Canilao mimic these complex histories rather than simply copy them, carefully considering their place in the context of the modern world. Step into the wilderness and discover for yourself in this new contemporary art exhibition London.