Name/Title
Emergency in Waiting (Gold)Entry/Object ID
2016.12.01Description
Maria Hupfield (b.1975) defines herself as an Urban off-reservation multidisciplinary Ojibwe artist. Based in Toronto, she was born in Parry Sound, Ontario and is a member of the Wasauksing First Nation.
Hupfield works in a variety of mediums, primarily video and performance art. Her practice embodies feminist performance, Native feminism, and Indigenous creative and oral traditions. She is known for making elaborate mixed media creations/objects out of repurposed everyday materials and activating the works with her own body during her performances.
The artist has an undeniable talent for storytelling, luring us into a visually stunning world of mischief, play, and critique to make space for indigenous histories and bodies and creating dialogue about decolonization, reclamation, indigenous identity, and accountability.
Emergency in Waiting (2016) references the existing and ongoing potential for crisis in Indigenous communities. Her work serves as a criticism of the welfare and health care systems that neglect the safety and well-being of Indigenous bodies. Using felt and a gold emergency blanket, Hupfield provides supplies for the inevitable poverty, homelessness, and health system deficiencies.
Hupfield is an Assistant Professor in Indigenous Performance and Media Art, and a Canadian Research Chair in Transdisciplinary Indigenous Arts, at the University of Toronto in Mississauga. Together with her husband artist Jason Lujan, she co-owns Native Art Department International, a project focused on mutual support, collaboration and a shared commitment to showcasing Native American and First Nations Peoples, alongside International art.
https://mariahupfield.wordpress.com/Artwork Details
Medium
industrial felt, emergency blanket, feltDimensions
Height
25.4 cmWidth
21.6 cm