The work Nicolson presents in a contemporary art context stems from her engagement with the medium of photography, which she submits to what she calls “reverse appropriation” in response to the continuous acts of expropriation and appropriation inflicted upon Indigenous peoples. At VOX, Nicolson installation works with dynamics of exposure and concealment, of dispossession and reappropriation, beginning with a striking face-to-face. Nicolson thus establishes a space of recognition and negotiation, and ultimately, a space where violence can be dismantled. In this way, she re-actualises the principle of the potlatch, that is, the reciprocity of gift and counter-gift.

Exhibition leaflet in Kanien’kehà:ka.
Exhibition leaflet containing texts in accessible language.

Exhibition produced in partnership with VOX, centre de l’image contemporaine.