Locating the Little Heartbeats : Julie Nagam

Nagam’s own recent works speak to the value of land-based knowledge through contemporary technological media. Projected images and sounds flaunt the detachment of an urban art gallery from the ecosystem on which Nagam bases her manufactured recreations. With locating the little heartbeats, Nagam continues her archival and promotion of that knowledge in the anti-inflammatory properties of fireweed and the use of Labrador tea as an expectorant. Without auxiliary research, the significance of each of these herbs is unclear to those unfamiliar with Manitoba’s indigenous plant life and its medicinal or ritual bounty. In the exhibition’s book – available to read in a brightened spot – brief descriptions of each plant’s uses can be found in Dr. Niigaan Sinclair’s essay. His response, though diaphanous at times, is an emotionally generous one.